


Far From Comfort

by FictionLover007



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Far From Home spoilers, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: Far From Home Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-06-10 07:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19497094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionLover007/pseuds/FictionLover007
Summary: This work, and summary contain spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home, so read at your own risk.The events from Spider-Man: Far From Home have left the foundations of Peter's life shaken, and now he has to deal with the fallout of Jameson's report. How will the people in Peter's life rally around him in support, and how will he react to the changes that happen next?





	1. Now What?

At the end of the breaking news report, Peter was frozen. Whether it was from shock, horror, or panic, he wasn’t sure. But one thing was clear. The world knew his identity. The world now knows who he is. He couldn’t hear anything except his own heartbeat, and it sounded like a panicked drum. Everything was short-circuiting. He couldn’t breathe. He…he couldn’t…

Peter’s eyes snapped open. He was lying down. He wasn’t in Times Square anymore. He wasn’t even outside. Where was he? Was he in prison again? No. There was a beeping noise. A heart monitor? Was he in a hospital? Shit, where was his mask? Did he still need it, now that the world knew his identity? The beeping got faster, and Peter’s ability to breathe again got harder.

“Hey, kid, Peter, it’s alright. It’s okay. Peter, look at me. C’mon kid, look at me.” Peter knew that voice. That was Happy’s voice. 

“H’pp-ie?” Peter slurred, only now aware of the oxygen mask on his face. Happy breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, hey kid. Really had us going there for a minute. You’re in the Avengers compound.”

Peter blinked and tried to sit up, only to fall back down in pain. His head was killing him. “Wha-what happn’d?”  
  
“Well,” Happy coughed. “You…you fell. There was a breaking news article on screen, from the Daily Bugle. Your…you were the subject of the article, and it must’ve induced a panic attack, because after you saw it, you slipped right off the lamppost you were perched on and fell about a dozen feet to the ground, head first. Sam was first on scene, he med-evac’ed you here.”

Peter tried to sit up again, slower this time. “MJ…MJ was with me, is she okay?” He finally made eye-contact with the former-bodyguard. 

Happy nodded. “Yeah, she’s okay. Some of the people in the Square tried to do a citizen’s arrest, but she kept them away by yelling at them until help arrived. She texted you, I have your phone.

Peter took in a shaky breath. “Thanks.” He took the phone back from Happy, and saw that there were a lot of messages. Twelve missed called from May. Peter looked back up at Happy in alarm, wincing at the sharp movement. “Does Aunt May…”

Happy held up his hands to pacify him. “May is here. She and Pepper are talking to Doctor Cho and Doctor Strange right now. I drove her here with me the minute we found out.”  
  
The teenager began to calm down, but Happy could see the tears in his eyes. “Hey, what’s up?”

“The whole world knows who I am now. The whole point of the mask was so that I could keep my identity hidden, that I could live a normal life, despite not being a normal person. What am I supposed to do now? On top of that, I’ve been accused of murder. MURDER? I’m going to go to prison. I…I don’t know what to do.” Peter’s voice was very shaky, and Happy gave into the urge to give the boy a hug.

“Peter, you are not going to prison. Okay? We are going to do everything in our power to make sure that does not happen. As for the whole identity-thing, well, I don’t know what we’re going to do about that yet, but it’s going to be okay.”

Peter sobbed into the crook of Happy’s neck. “H’w’r you s’ur?” Happy didn’t catch that, and lifted Peter’s chin to force the boy into making eye contact. “How…how are you sure?”

Happy smiled and said “Because Tony would make sure everything will be okay. Plus, I believe in ghosts Peter, and I’m pretty sure Tony will haunt my ass until I make sure that you are okay, no matter what.”

Peter snorted and sobbed at the same time. “You think so?”

Happy brushed his hands through the boy’s hair, and said “I know so. Now, how are you feeling?”

Peter took a much-steadier breath in. “Better. My head still hurts a little bit, but other than that, I’m good. Thank you Happy.”

Happy nodded, and patted his hands on his knees before standing up. “Okay, I’m going to go find your Aunt, let her know you’re awake, okay?”

Peter nodded, and with that, Happy left the room, leaving the teenager in silence. He looked back down at his phone, and scrolled through the notifications. 38 unread texts from Ned. Two unread texts from MJ. One unread text from…Flash? Peter opened that one first.

“Is it true? Are you Spider-Man?” The message read, a simple question, with a loaded answer. Before Peter could think of a response, someone came into the room. It was Ms. Potts.

“Ms. Potts, I uh…” Peter’s throat closed up. He hadn’t seen her since the funeral.

The red-headed woman smiled at him. “Hello Peter. How are you feeling?”

Peter swallowed, and stuttered out “B-be-better, ma’am.”

Pepper’s smile got bigger. “Please, Peter, call me Pepper. Now, I need to talk a little bit of business with you. Are you up for that?”

Peter nodded, and then Pepper waved to the door. Aunt May and Happy slipped back inside. “As your legal guardian, May needs to be here, but Happy can leave…”

“No.” Peter cut her off. “Sorry, Ms. Po-Pepper. I don’t mind Happy being here.”

Pepper nodded, and continued. “Peter, as a result of what happened earlier today, there are some legal issues that we need to run through. Now, as an official Avenger, and as a signee of the Sokovia Accords, you are protected against government action for any and all damages that occurred in Venice, Prague, and London. No one can sue you for that. More importantly, Stark Industries has already issued a statement, confirming Quentin Beck’s true identity and history, and his status as Mysterio has been disqualified. Any credibility he had has been destroyed, and the video that Jameson used in his report has been confirmed as faked. The Daily Bugle has rescinded their report. But, in order to make all of that happen, we had to confirm that aspects of the article, specifically your identity, were correct, since we had to declassify your part in the Accords. Are you with me so far?” 

Peter looked up at her. “So, I’m not being arrested on murder charges?” His tone was hopeful. Pepper smiled. “Peter, you’re not being arrested for anything.”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief and sank back down into the hospital bed. May moved over to Peter’s side, and ran her fingers through his hair. “Peter, are you okay?”

He pushed himself back up, and squeezed his Aunt’s hand in reassurance. “Yeah. So, while my identity has been compromised, I’m not facing any legal action?”

Pepper nodded. “So, now what?” Peter asked.  
  
Pepper paused for a moment, and then said “Well, there are three things that are on a list, but all of them are optional. We can’t deny at this point that you are Spider-Man. That’s something we can’t put back in the bottle, so to speak, but we do have the opportunity for you to tell your story, and your side of what happened in London, in a press conference. You can opt out of this, but you need to say now, because that’s the most pressing arrangement." 

Peter thought about it for a moment, and then looked back up at her. “Yeah. I have some stuff I’d like to clear up. But, I don’t want to be up there alone.”

Pepper nodded, and said “I can arrange for Sam, or Carol to be up there with you?”

Peter said “Sam is fine. He did help me out back there, so I’d appreciate Sam please.”

“On to the next thing. I think it’s safe to assume that you did not consent to your name and image being shown in that report Jameson aired earlier?”

Peter snorted. “I did not consent.”

“Good, do you want to sue him?” 

Peter’s eyes widened. “Sue? For what?”

“Peter, he used your name and picture without your permission, or mine. The school didn’t give it to him, so technically, he broke the law, and you have grounds to sue him as a result. He used your identity, and so, profited off of audience reaction, without your consent, and you experienced severe emotional stress as a result. Now, the lawsuit can go as quickly and as quietly as you like, and I believe our lawyers can pressure the station into an appropriate settlement.” Pepper answered the question as promptly as possible, but Peter still managed to get stuck on one word.

“Our lawyers?” Peter asked cautiously.

Pepper nodded. “Technically, since Tony made the suit you wore when you signed the Accords, and you were under Stark Industries payroll, Spider-Man is Stark Industries intellectual property. You know how Hank and Hope Pym had warrants out on them because they owned Scott’s suit? It’s kind of along those lines.” 

Peter nodded, but was still confused. “As a result, anything you do under the name Spider-Man, with Stark technology, we can protect you with using company lawyers. You won’t need to pay anything for legal advisement.”

Peter’s mouth formed a soft oh. Before he could say anything however, Pepper continued. “And even if that hadn’t been the case Peter, I would have offered you legal services anyways. You don’t deserve to be going through this, and Jameson should’ve known better. Tony was big on family, and he considered you part of his, and we protect each other.”

Tears filled Peter’s eyes and Pepper understood why the kid had grown on Tony so much. She pulled the teenager into a hug. She felt him slowly place his arms around her, and gave her a light squeeze.

When the teenager pulled away, Pepper used the opportunity to brush her hair back, and wipe away a tear at the same time. “Thank you Ms. P-Pepper.”

“You’re very welcome Peter. Now, we do need to address one more thing. School.”

Immediately, Peter’s body language changed. He shrank within himself and tensed, before whispering “I can’t go back there, can I?”

“Peter.” May cut in. “Look at me.” The teenage raised his head. “If you want to go back, you can. But there are going to be some issues, and we need to resolve those now. The press conference is going to be scheduled for tomorrow. I would recommend that you don’t go to school that day, but afterwards there might be some changes. In the past, Peter, you’ve helped put away some bad people, and your anonymity has protected you. Since that is no longer an option, we have to make some changes to security in your life. I have already agreed to some security measures in your apartment, but there are some places where we all think you might need a bit more protection, starting with classes.”

“No, absolutely not.” Peter straightened up, and looked his aunt square in the eye. “I’m a superhero, and I do not need a bodyguard following me around school. What kind of message would that send to my classmates. The whole point of the Spider-Man identity was that it allowed me to live a somewhat normal life, May, and I can’t give that up.”

“Peter, it’s not about you.” Happy cut in, and everyone in the room turned to look at the man. “When May says security changes, you may be the target, but some of the people who might come after you, well they won’t care if they get a few of your classmates along the way.”

Peter was silent, knowing that Happy was right, but still… “It doesn’t have to be a bodyguard.” Pepper added. Now eyes were on her. “We can work with the school’s security, make a couple changes so that the school perimeter is more secure, and update the camera system. There are also a couple pieces of technology we can have on you at all time for safety purposes, but I agree, I don’t think a bodyguard will be a good idea. No offence, but I am sure you’d ditch them, and I don’t think I could hire anyone that could keep up with you.”

Peter snorted, and nodded. May rolled her eyes, and Happy shook his head in amusement. “So,” Pepper continued. “As long as the security measures we take affect your life as little as possible, are you alright with those measures being taken?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted to Peter, and he nodded. “Yes, thank you.”  
  
Pepper clapped her hands together, and then opened her mouth again. “Oh, one more thing. I understand your school requires a certain amount of service hours for graduation. Now, I know that you are only a junior, but we can talk to your principle about getting some of those Spider-Man shifts counted. Sound good?”

Peter’s mouth dropped open, and all of the adults started laughing at his expression. And in that moment, finally, Peter started to believe that everything would be okay.


	2. Im-Press-ive

Everything was NOT okay, Peter decided. He was about to step in front of about 30 reporters, in the Spider-Man costume, without a mask, next to Captain America, and tell the world about himself. Recipe for disaster.

“..ter. Peter? PETER?” Peter snapped out of his head, to see Aunt May waving her hand in front of his face. He blinked, and focused on her.

“Yeah?” May released a sigh. “Peter, it’s almost time. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Peter said earnestly. “I’m fine.”

May gave him a look that told Peter he didn’t sound convincing enough, and honestly Peter deserved it. “Wanna try the truth this time?” May pushed.

It was Peter’s turn to sigh. “Okay. I am nervous. I am worried that I’ll say the wrong thing, and I’ll end up in more trouble. Plus, Ned texted me. They’re going to be watching the press conference live in class, so no biggie. If I mess up, my best friend, my girlfriend, and all of my classmates will know instantly.”

May’s look softened. “Peter, listen to me. All you need to do is stick to your cards and the truth. Answer the questions as honestly as you can. Mr. Wilson is going to be next to you on the podium, he’ll let you know if you need to do anything in order to keep things under control, and Pepper is standing off to the side. She’ll take over if things get too out of hand, okay? And Happy is standing off-stage. If you start to panic, he’ll get you out of there. Got it?”

Peter took a deep breath, and nodded, only slightly pacified. He looked out at the stage, and felt his heartbeat flutter again.

“And now, I have the job of introducing our newest Avenger to the stage…” Sam was standing at the podium. “Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Spider-Man!” Sam looked over at Peter and nodded, his cue to come out on stage.

Holding his head high, Peter walked out there, and immediately, cameras started flashing in his face. The reporters made a lot of noise, but Peter took a breath, and stood at the podium. He paused a moment, allowing the reporters to take their seats, and then looked down at the cards in his hands.

Peter tried to read the words, but he felt dizzy. The words started swimming, and then all Peter could hear was his own heartbeat again. He could see all of the reporters, and then, he focused on one face, standing at the back of the room. There stood Mr. Stark, in an immaculate suit, the EDITH glasses perched on his face. He nodded, and all of a sudden, Peter was back in the moment. The reporters all stared expectantly, and Mr. Stark was gone.

Peter swallowed, and said “Hello, my name is Peter Parker. Ms. Potts went to a lot of trouble to bring you all here today, and she even helped me prepare this speech,” Peter held up the cards. “But, I am here today to set the record straight on what has happened in the course of the past few weeks, and this speech…it doesn’t have the right words. Sixteen years ago, my mentor and hero, Tony Stark, stood up in front of a group of reporters, much like you, and told the world that he was Iron Man. It was a great moment, and I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched that video on YouTube. But I’m not here to repeat that moment for myself. A little over six years ago, my life changed. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and the next thing I knew, I had enhanced strength and flexibility, along with an enhanced awareness of my surroundings that supersede normal human reflexes.”

Peter took a breath, and scanned all of the reporters faces, noticing J. Jonah Jameson in the crowd.

“At first, I wasn’t sure what to do with the abilities I was given. At first, I just thought they were neat tricks. But then, a few days after I was bitten, my uncle was killed in an armed robbery. I watched it happen, and I blamed myself. I felt like I was responsible for his death. And then, someone told me a line, one which has stuck with me for a while. With great power, comes great responsibility. I couldn’t bring my uncle back, but I could use my abilities to catch the guy that killed him. And while I never did get justice for my uncle, I did learn how to get justice for others, and slowly, I began to do my part in stopping crime in this city. A few months in, a video of me doing said part surfaced on the internet, and it caught the attention of Mr. Stark, who then later brought me in as backup for an international Avengers operation to apprehend the Rogue Avengers during what you, the media, have dubbed ‘The Civil War’. The mission failed, but I got my first real taste of what it meant to be a superhero.”

Knowing what was coming next, Peter took a sharp breath in, and he felt Sam put a hand on his shoulder. “I was offered a place on the Avengers shortly after that, when I stopped a group of thieves from stealing millions of dollar’s worth of equipment, relics, and weapons from the Avengers themselves. I declined that place at the time, knowing I was not ready for it. But less than a year later, for the second time in a decade, New York City found itself under attack from aliens, and I felt it was my responsibility to intervene. That was the start of what would become known as the Blip. A lot of what really happened after that, I can’t tell you, but five years later, I woke up, about to fight in the biggest battle of my life. It was hard, and it was scary. The worst part was that at the end, the person who kept me fighting, he…he died.”

Peter was barely able to choke that last part out, but he pushed on. “Tony Stark died to save the universe, and I saw him die. That still affects me to this day, and I can’t begin to describe how much I miss him. Which is why it was so easy for Mysterio to take advantage of me. Most, if not all of you already know about he used his technology to create the Elemental monsters that attacked those cities, and about the Stark Industries drones that he commandeered to do it, but what you don’t know was that he manipulated me, gained my trust, in order to take control of those drones. Control that Mr. Stark had left…left to me. I wish I could go back in time to change what happened, but I can’t. I can only try and fix my mistake, and the only way I can do that is to be a part of the legacy that Mr. Stark left behind, to be Spider-Man. Thank you.”

As soon as Peter finished speaking, many of the reporters broke into applause, and cameras continued to flash in Peter’s face. Sam leant closer, and whispered “Nice job Queens,” in his ear. Peter made eye contact with the man, and shot him a faint smile, before stepping aside to let Sam take the podium again. He looked off-stage, trying to find Aunt May, and finally caught sight of her standing next to Happy. She was smiling, and her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying, and Happy was slowly clapping, a proud look on his face.

“Alright, okay, everyone settle down. We will now allow for questions, however, all of you are aware of the limits of what you can and cannot ask. If you ask a question that breaks those limits, you will be asked to leave. Peter?” Sam looked back and nodded again. Peter took the stand once more, and cleared his throat.

“Okay, who’s first?” Peter asked. Many of the reporters started shouting and Peter threw up his hands. “Woah, okay, one at a time. I’m sorry, I don’t know many of your names, so I’ll just point to you, and you can say your name, your publication or station, and your question. Okay?”

The reporters quieted down, and Peter pointed to a blonde reporter in the front row. “You first, I guess.”

The reporter stood up, and said “Christine Everheart, Vanity Fair. Mr. Parker, you mentioned that you participated in the Civil War mission to capture the Rogue Avengers. Were the Accords council that signed on your being there aware of your age? You were fourteen at the time.”

Peter looked down. “Part of the deal to not getting anything about my identity was no one knowing anything about me, except how to contact me. No one knew my age, except for Mr. Stark.”

“Mr. Parker, I then have a follow-up.” Ms. Everheart immediately replied. “Are you saying that Mr. Stark approved of endangering a minor then?”  
  
“No!” Peter retorted. “The recovery mission for the Rogue Avengers was never supposed to get violent. The original plan was for me to stay at a distance, and only engage to restrain the Rogue Avengers. I was not supposed to engage in combat. I might’ve broken that protocol, but as soon as I did, Mr. Stark ordered me to leave the fight, and get out of danger. Next question.”

“Harmony Whyte, West-TV. Mr. Parker, you must’ve seen the video in which Quentin Beck identified you as the Spider-Man. Stark Industries stated that the video was faked, but can you provide any evidence or statement to prove that?”

Peter nodded. “Yes. The events that occurred on the bridge in London were confusing enough for all parties involved, except Quentin Beck, but he remained in control of the drones until after he was shot. I did not, and never will, carry a gun, and audio recording of the drones asking for confirmation to fire while Beck was in the firing zone is available. What isn’t available is any recording after that moment is the message that Mr. Beck supposedly recorded after his death. That was recorded while I was disabling the drones outside of the Bridge, way before he was shot. I suppose he made the video in case he got hurt or died, to get revenge, and distract people from his own actions, or the actions of the people that he was working with.”

“Greg Reed, News-at-Noon. Mr. Parker, how has the reveal of your identity affected you so far?” 

“Honestly, it’s made me angry. This morning, my laywer and I submitted a lawsuit against the Daily Bugle for airing a report that used my name and image without consent, but that’s the only thing that will affect them. For me, protection has to be put in place at my home and at my school. My aunt and I will be under constant surveillance, and everyone I come into contact with from here out will have a background check run on them, whether they know it or not. My school is revamping their security measures, in case someone that I put in prison decides to take revenge while I’m in class. When the article aired, I was in Times Square, and it had to be up to another Avenger to get me out of people taking it into their own hands to arrest me, while I was unconscious, post-panic attack. So, the reveal has affected my life quite a lot, and I feel like I’m losing control of being able to protect the people I care about. But what the reveal will not affect is my ability to protect the people of New York, because whether they know my name or not, I am still Spider-Man.”

“George Gastineaux, The New York Times. You said that you were a part of Iron Man’s legacy. Can you elaborate on that?”

Peter paused, and tried to think of the best answer. “Yes. Iron Man, Mr. Stark, was the one that made me an official Avenger during the Blip incident, but before that, we worked together. He was my mentor, he trained me, and built two of my suits to help me. He was the person I was closest to on the Avengers, and we trusted each other. He left me a note, saying that he thought I could be the next him. And he did a lot of good for the world. I want to continue that good.” Peter made eye contact with Pepper as he finished that statement, and she smiled at him.

Sam discreetly tapped Peter on the shoulder, and indicated to his watch, subtly messaging Peter that it was time to wrap up. One last question. As he turned around, Jameson stood up and called out to Peter.

“Mr. Parker!” He bellowed, and Peter winced. “Yes, Mr. Jameson.” 

“From one public menace to the other, I say it’s time we end this crap. Vigilantism is illegal, and you are breaking the law to preserve the law. How does that make sense to you?”

Sam visibly bristled, and Pepper stepped closer to Jameson. Peter took a deep breath, and then all of a sudden, he had a vision of Mr. Stark buying the Daily Bugle just to fire Jameson. The scene amused Peter, and he smiled, before looking down, and then back at Jameson.

“I believe in the police system Mr. Jameson. I believe in the police officers that risk their lives, and I admire them for their bravery. And like them, I believe that that the law needs to be enforced. And I believe in helping people. But the law is not perfect, Mr. Jameson. You’ve broken it, so you know that’s true.” The man’s face got redder, but he remained silent for once. “And technically, vigilantism in itself is not illegal in the United States, only certain actions that can be associated with it, including murder, robbery, and assault against authority. I have not committed any of those crimes. Everything I have done has been in the spirit of preserving the law, not breaking it, and I don’t profit from it. So, you can call me a menace, a thug, whatever. You can hate me, you can slander me on your show, I’ll still sue you for it, but I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Jameson scowled, and stormed out of the room, his camerawoman scurrying after him. The rest of the room was silent. And then, one by one, each person stood up and clapped. The applause got audibly overwhelming, and Peter breathed out in shock. Sam clapped a hand on his shoulder and cheered. “Nice job.”

But Peter wasn’t focused on any of that. He was looking at Tony, out there in the middle of it all. The older man was smiling, and he held his thumbs up. “Great work kid. You’re doing fine.”

Peter smiled, and took another breath. He nodded back to the man, and then looked back at Aunt May, who was hanging off of happy, screaming in excitement. Happy too was cheering, and Peter practically powerwalked to them to give them both a hug. The worst of it was over.


	3. Proceed As Normal (But Not Likely)

Peter really needed to stop jinxing himself. Today would be the first day back at school since the report, and he did not think he was ready for it. Someone would bring it up. SOMEONE would say something, and today he did not feel as confident has he had during that press conference. Not that he had felt confident then, but now it was like he had…negative confidence? What was that, cowardice or doubt? No, wait, that wasn’t the priority right now. He was about to walk into school after the world found out he moonlights as a superhero. This was a bad idea, this was a badideathiswasabad… “Peter?”

It was MJ. She was standing in front of him, a concerned look on her face. “MJ! Hi!” Peter blurted out, failing to hide how nervous he was. 

“Hi. Are you okay?” She asked. 

“Not really. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.” Peter told her, honesty seeping into his voice.

“Yeah, I can see that. Look, it’ll just be a normal day at school. We have debate practice afterwards, and then you are coming over to my place, because my dad has refused to fix the tv, and you are good enough with technology, that I think you can fix it. Now, come on.” 

Peter blinked, unused to how familiar it sounded for her to be bossing him around, but not offended by the idea. He smiled, glad how normal that conversation went. “Right, let’s go.”

Before they made it eight steps however, a voice rang out. “PETER!” It was Ned, running across campus, bee-lining straight for the two of them, Betty trailing behind him for some reason. And Flash after that, his phone still in the air, like he was Tik-Tok-ing again. The urge to run away swelled up in Peter’s chest, but he stood his ground long enough for Ned to reach him.

“Dude, that press conference was AWESOME!” Ned yelled excitedly, and practically bounced in place. “Was it as cool in real life?”

“Nope.” Peter puffed out his cheeks, and rocked back on his heels. “It was not good. It was terrifying.”

“Sure, but you put JONAH JAMESON in his place! That was amazing! Also, was that speech you made really made up, or was that what was actually on the cards?”   
  
“It was made-up…oh hi Betty.” The blonde had finally caught up to her ex-boyfriend, giving Peter an excuse to try and change subjects.

“Hi, Peter. So, you really are Spider-Man?” The girl asked.

Before Peter could nod, MJ cut in. “Yep, he’s Spider-Man alright, and what he’s also going to be, along with all of us is late to class if we just stand here, so let’s go before Flash falls flat on his face again.” 

MJ’s comment made all of the teens turn around and look at the bully/fanboy, who was indeed picking himself up after having tripped and fallen. The sight made Peter smile slightly, but he knew that the other boy would not appreciate it. So Peter walked over to him, and offered Flash his hand to help him up.

Flash looked up at him from the ground, and picked up his phone, before hesitating, and finally taking Peter’s hand.

“So, you’re Spider-Man? You’re actually Spider-Man?” Flash’s voice was uncertain, something that surprised Peter. 

“Yeah.”

“That’s how you knew about my Tik-Tok account?” The other boy sounded disappointed. 

“Yes. And it helped me save the world, so thanks.” That cheered the other boy up for a moment, but then a strange look passed over his face.

“That’s also how you knew my name when you stole my dad’s car?” This question brought an edge to Flash’s voice. Peter winced. “Yeah, sorry. I can give you some money to make up for it?”

Flash shook his head. “Nah, he bought the exact same car that night. I have a better idea.”

* * *

After arranging a night in which Flash would be shadowing Peter as Spider-Man, a bad idea in Peter's opinion, Peter dashed inside his science class just as the bell rang. Every single eye in the room was on him, but Peter ignored them. He sat down in his seat next to Ned, and took out his notebook, ready to get on with class like normal.

The rest of the day proceeded less normally. Literally EVERYONE stared at him, and some gave him a wide berth in the hallway, whereas others went out of their way to interact with him. Five girls gave him their numbers, which Peter discreetly threw away, and nineteen people asked him to sign some form of Spider-Man merchandise, from which Peter had no idea where they got it. One person asked him about cosplay tips, which Peter had no idea what that meant, and several people took selfies with him. Ned stuck close to him, as did MJ, and as usual the three of them sat alone at lunch. What wasn’t usual however, was the amount of people that stopped by their table to just say hi. By the end of lunch, Peter was ready to just…run for it. He was not used to being the center of attention, and he certainly wasn’t used to being popular.

Finally the bell rang to end lunch, and there was only one class left for the day. World History. It wasn’t Peter’s favorite class, but he was rather good at it nonetheless. Right now they were studying the Accords, which would make today’s class…interesting.

As Peter took his seat, the classroom fell unusually quiet, and finally Mrs. Warren entered the classroom. The former physics teacher had gotten rather tired of teaching physics during the Blip, and decided to try her hand at history, finally putting her second degree to the test. She walked slowly to the front of the classroom, and Peter refused to make eye contact with her. Not that she would let him ignore her. She planted herself in front of Peter’s desk, and called out his name.

“Mr. Parker.” She placed her hands on the edge of the desk, and bent down to eye level with her student. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Mr. Parker. How many years have I been teaching you?” 

“Two…two years ma’am.”

“And in those two years, would you say you have learned a lot, particularly from me?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Now, I pride myself in also learning about my students. And one thing I have learned about you, Mr. Parker, is that you are very bad at keeping secrets. You are also not a talented liar. Would you say that is accurate about yourself?”  
  
Peter was frozen in his seat. “Yes, ma’am?”

“So, please tell me, Mr. Parker, how exactly I managed to teach precisely four hours of history on the Sokovia Accords, only to find out now, that you have not only seen the full, unredacted version of them, but signed them?”

“Uhh…” Peter had no good answer. “Because…it was…classified?” He tried, knowing that that probably sounded pathetic to the seasoned teacher, who at that moment was very, very intimidating.

“Hm.” She raised an eyebrow, turned around and walked to her desk, satisfied with the answer. She then turned on the computer and the projector, and pulled up the presentation that she would be using for class.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief, and Ned patted his back. Some sniggers floated around the classroom, and soon enough, the subject had moved on from the Accords signees to the circumstances of the Accords’ existence. Just when Peter thought he was safe, he was called to answer a question.

“Mr. Parker, perhaps you can tell us the answer to this. What kind of law do the Accords fall under?”  
  
Peter snapped to attention, running through answers in his head. “International law, ma’am.”

“Which nations do that apply to exactly?” 

“All of them except the United States. Most of them are American allies however, the notable exception being Wakanda at the time." 

“Good. Now, who can tell me why Wakanda played such a large role in the Accords?” Mrs. Warren looked around. No one raised their hand, and Peter squeezed his eyes shut, knowing what was coming next.

“Mr. Parker, since you might have some insider information, perhaps you could tell us?”

“In an unofficial operation to apprehend a rogue Hydra operative, and prevent him from carrying out a terrorist attack. But when the Avengers got involved, the Hydra operative detonated a small bomb, and the Scarlet Witch lost control of the bomb in range of thirteen Wakandan aid workers. It was the first time Wakanda had sent aid of any kind to any country, and as far as their government was concerned, it was a deliberate oversight or just plain carelessness to allow a group like the Avengers to carry out operations with no responsibility for the civilians they hurt along the way. But that kind of thinking had been around since Sokovia, which could be directly blamed on the Avengers for happening in the first place.”

“Tony Stark, you mean. Directly blamed on Tony Stark.” One of Peter’s classmates, Chrissy Chen interjected into the discussion. Chrissy was a quasi-activist, who liked to defend controversial issues, but did not invest a lot of research into her positions. 

“Considering that Scarlet Witch’s mental manipulation of Tony Stark prompted him to run the Ultron experiment, and Dr. Bruce Banner’s involvement in the experiment, no, it can’t and shouldn’t be blamed on Tony Stark.” Peter turned around and stared at Chrissy, a slight protective edge in his voice. The girl harrumphed, and rolled her eyes, but Peter ignored that.

“Not that it mattered much in the end whose fault it was, as the events of Sokovia still impacted the Accords long after they were written. A former Sokovian Special Operations soldier posed as a POI for the Avengers, a Person of Interest, and bombed the United Nations, killing the previous king of Wakanda, King T’Chaka. His son, the now present King T’Challa, assumed the throne, and continued to push for the Accords, and participated in the operation to apprehend the Rogue Avengers after the bombing was blamed of Sargent James Barnes, the POI that Helmut Zemo impersonated.”

“And how would you have done things differently Mr. Parker? As an expert opinion on the matter?” Mrs. Warren asked, a curious tone in her voice. All eyes turned back to Peter, and he gulped. She stood aside, and pulled up the projector screen to provide access to the whiteboard. She then motioned for Peter to come up and write his answer on the board.

Slowly, Peter walked up to the board, and picked up a dry-erase marker. Without turning around to look at his classmates, he started to write. “The Accords themselves were doomed to fail from the get-go, that should’ve been apparent to anyone. A classified document only certain people had access to, and one that did not apply to American citizens. Since a majority of the Avengers, with the exception of Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and the Vision, were Americans, already, there were flaws in the planning, but there was the belief that by agreeing to the Accords, the Avengers would begin to make reparations for their mistakes. The second issue was who got involved. Secretary of State Ross did not make a great impression, and not a single Avenger liked him, not even Mr. Stark. As Ross was already known for his actions involving the Hulk in Harlem, the Avengers were aware of what he could, and did, do to them if they didn’t agree. That’s why they ended up in prison, without being read their rights, or given access to legal representation. Their very right to life was violated, as were their constitutional rights. It’s also worth noting that two of the Rogues arrested never even saw, let alone got the opportunity to sign the Accords.”

Peter took a breath, and then turned around to continue. “The final issue is the fact that the Accords severely limited the Avengers, and super-powered humans, to the point of inhibiting any opportunity to get involved. By the time the Accords council got involved, New York and Edinburgh had already been attacked, the Vision incapacitated, and Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and myself had been taken off-world. We operated without approval in order to save lives because bureaucracy couldn’t move fast enough, and that is the main thing wrong with the Accords. I signed them to keep my foot in the door, but the Accords were trying to slam to door shut anyways.”

Mrs. Warren nodded. “That’s a well-thought-out answer Mr. Parker. Now, everyone’s assignment for homework tonight is to write a minimum 1500-word essay on how the Accords should run according to you. I expect two real-life examples to support your directions, and sources added at the ends. However, I’m sure Peter is very busy outside of school, so you may not all call him to ask for information. Now, we are going to be moving on to a short history lesson on legal protection of superheroes in the United States, for which we will be watching a short documentary on legal attorney Matthew Murdock, so if you will all pay attention to the screen, I expect you to take notes.”

While the video played, Peter finally let out a sigh of relief, and took notes on the video, hoping he wouldn’t be called on again for the rest of class.

* * *

After getting the necessary items out of his locker later on, Peter was ready to go home, but he still had debate practice and whatever was going on at MJ’s house. The thought of his girlfriend did cheer him up, as he always seemed to feel better around her. He walked down to the library, where practice was, and spotted Betty, Ned, Flash, Abe, and MJ were there. Mr. Harrison was absent, but that was usual for the start of practice, as the frazzled man was usually late. Before Peter could call out to his friends though, he found himself being dragged behind a bookcase. 

It was Brad. Peter figured the other boy would show up at some point, but Peter was done. He was not dealing with this today.

“What do you want?” Peter bit out, and forcefully removed the other boy’s hands from his clothes.

“You think that just because you’re a superhero you can come and go whenever you want, Parker. And you couldn’t give a shit about the people you hurt along the way, so why the hell are you still here? You got your last girlfriend’s dad arrested, you abandoned MJ during the attacks, and you think that’s okay? Huh?” The other boy was angry, but not really thinking, Peter could tell. 

“Look, Brad, I know you’re angry…”

“Yeah, I’m angry. That entire trip seemed to revolve around you while we were gone, and you don’t seem to care. And now you and MJ are together, but you don’t give a shit about her.”

“That is not true. I care about MJ a lot, and I’ve known her for a long time. I respect who she is, and her choices, and she picked me. If she turns around and picks you tomorrow, I’ll be hurt, but I understand. I don’t want people getting hurt because of me, not her, not Ned, not even you. So, I’m sorry if anything I did over the vacation to try and save the world upset you, but it’s done now. So, why can’t we just start over?” 

“Fine, but you have to admit that you hooked up with that girl in the bathroom to MJ." 

Peter winced. “I didn’t hook up with her. She was my SHIELD handler. She wanted me to put on the new uniform they made me, the Night Monkey one that was on the news. Plus, she was like, five years older than me or something.”

Brad snorted. “Seriously. Are you telling me that she was there waiting for you to go to the bathroom, to try on a costume?”

“Yep. The bus driver was SHIELD as well. He deliberately picked us up so we could stop at that specific place.” Peter admitted.

“Seriously?” Brad’s mouth hung open. Peter nodded.

“So we got kidnapped by spies on our summer vacation because our classmate is Spider-Man?” Brad asked, disbelief coloring his tone.

“Yeah?” Peter said, nervous at how Brad would react to that information.

“Okay, that’s cool.” Peter did not expect that.

“What?” It was Peter’s turn to have his mouth hang open.

“That’s cool. We got kidnapped by spies. That’s awesome. I wonder if the same thing happened with the bus driver in London.”

“What?” Now Peter was confused.

“We were the only ones on the bus. The driver insisted we all go up to the top, and then parked us on the bridge and left, right before the attack.”

The information was news to Peter, but the minute it finished coming out of Brad’s mouth, a bad feeling formed in Peter’s gut. “Son of a bitch.” Peter swore, and pulled out his cell phone.

“Excuse me?” Brad frowned.

“Not you. You guys weren’t even supposed to be in London, but I figured that you were there because of flight issues, and Mr. Harrington had decided you had enough time to do a bit of tourist stuff. But that, that sounds like you guys were placed there deliberately, since the bridge was going to be destroyed by Mysterio. So, not only did you get kidnapped by spies, you were targeted by an international terrorist.”

So much for a normal day at school.


	4. Here We Go

“So, Ned told me about how Warren turned you into the star witness of the Accords today.” MJ mused while sitting upside-down on the sofa in her living room. Peter was head-first in the unit underneath the television, trying to make it work, and could not open his mouth for fear of swallowing a hoard of dust bunnies. 

“Mmhmm.” He murmured, pulling one cable out of the wall, and the other end out of the tv.

“Bet that was fun.”

“Mmmhmm.” He moved a separate cable to the hole that he had just pulled the previous one out of.

“And Betty has told me that a lot of girls have been asking for your number.”

That statement startled Peter, and he accidentally bumped his head. “What?”

“Some have even asked for Ned’s.”

“Wow. That’s…something. Try turning it on now.”

The girl picked up the remote and pointed it out of the tv. The screen turned on, but there was no sound.

“Well, that’s progress.” MJ deadpanned, before scrolling back through her phone.

Peter ducked back under the unit, and wiggled one of the connections. Finally, the ESPN theme song rang out throughout the room, and Peter scooted himself out from under the tv. “Looks like the cables just got put in wrong.”

MJ righted herself, and stood up from the sofa. “You’ve got dust in your hair. Makes you look old.”

Peter laughed, and shook his head like a wet dog. Dust bunnies went flying everywhere, and MJ leapt back to avoid being dusted.

“Hey!” She cried, and Peter just laughed some more. Before either of them could say anything more, the apartment door opened. “Mitch, you here?”

“Yeah, I have a friend over.” MJ yelled back, and Peter stood up hastily, brushing himself off. A man dressed in a navy blue suit holding a briefcase entered the room, and raised an eyebrow upon seeing Peter standing in the middle of the room. 

“Dad, this is Peter. Peter, this is my dad. He’s an English professor at NYU. Peter’s a classmate of mine. And we’re also dating, but that’s none of your business.” MJ’s tone was measured, but also slightly cavalier. Her father straightened, shooting a look at his daughter, which she ignored, and then approached Peter, offering his hand for a handshake.

“It’s nice to meet you Peter. I’ve heard a lot about you…from my students.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well, sir.” Peter shook the man’s hand, noticing the strong smell of beer on his breath. An awkward silence began to fill the room, before MJ piped up. “Peter was able to fix the tv.”

MJ’s father raised an eyebrow, and looked over Peter’s shoulder to see that indeed, the television was working. He nodded, and made a low noise of approval in the back of his throat, before stumbling into the kitchen area and opened the fridge.

“And will Peter be staying for dinner?” The older man asked.

“Oh, no sir. Actually, I have to go home now, uh, I should be leaving.” Peter rushed the sentence out, praying to whatever deity would listen that he didn’t embarrass himself. 

“Very well, in that case, it was nice meeting you Peter.” Without looking out of the fridge, the man waved from the kitchen.

“And you as well sir.” Peter nodded at him, and then looked at MJ, lost at what to do next.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you down.” MJ supplied, and Peter followed her out the door.

“Sorry, I didn’t know he would be home so soon. Usually he’s out late, drinking or grading papers.” MJ said with an apologetic tone, but honestly, Peter wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for.

“No, it’s okay. I didn’t mind. It went substantially better than the last time I met the father of a girl I liked.”

“Right, because you helped arrest Liz’s dad.” MJ winced.

Peter winced in response. “Yeah.”

“You think you could help arrest mine?” The question took Peter by surprise, and he stumbled down a couple steps before catching himself by sticking to the wall.

“What?”

MJ shook her head. “Nothing. It’s stupid. It’s just…” She trailed off, and shoved her hands in her pockets.

“Just…” Peter prompted, crawling along the wall until he was walking upside-down on the stairs above her.

MJ sniggered at him, and said “You look like an actual spider doing that. And, just nothing. I’m being stupid.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid.” Peter dropped off the ceiling and landed in front of her.

“My dad has always put work before his family, and after his book failed, he put drinking before work. He was only that nice to you because he wasn’t sober, something I’m sure you could tell.”

“Yeah.” Peter admitted, remembering the smell of alcohol on his breath.

“And he’s never sober anymore. One of these days he’s going to pass out somewhere, drunk, and he’s not going to wake up. I’ve tried getting him to go to AA, but the problem there is that we’re too much alike. We don’t like talking about our feelings, and we’re both stubborn enough to clash on it. And I’ve read about how prison has helped a lot of addicts get the rehab they need, so…”

“Maybe we could introduce him to my aunt.” Peter suggested. “After the Blip, she started working with a local charity, FEAST, that helps people that got affected. There are a lot of addicts that come through, people that couldn’t cope with losing the years, or losing the people. Your dad might not apply in terms of the Blip, but she could help him get started on the right track.” He flipped backwards, skipping the last few steps and landed on the railing.

“Maybe. Anyways, let’s talk about something else. You were quiet during debate practice, I got the feeling you were thinking about something.” MJ took the opportunity to change the subject, and Peter let her.

“Yeah, I talked to Brad. And uh, turns out, you guys were on the bridge on purpose. One of my contacts tracked down the bus driver that abandoned you guys on the bridge. He worked for Mysterio. He tried to have you killed, and that’s why the drones followed you into the Tower of London.”

“WHAT!” MJ yelped. “Peter!”

Peter tensed, the fight or flight response kicking in. “Yes?”  
  
“You indirectly helped me cross off something on my bucket list!”

“What?” Peter felt like he had asked that specific question a lot today.

“My bucket list. Someone tried to kill me! Number 8!”

Peter looked at MJ in a combination of shock and disbelief. “So…you’re happy about this?”

“Yep.” They had finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Peter shook his head, but thought best not to comment any further, so he moved on.

“What other things are on your list?” Peter asked, curious.

MJ smiled coyly. “That’s backstory you have yet to unlock Parker. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, she leant down and pecked him on the cheek, before heading back up the stairs to her apartment.

Peter watched her go, with a dazed look on his face. But the happy moment did not last long. His phone started to ring at that moment, and when Peter looked at the screen, his Spidey-sense/Peter-tingle gave him a very bad feeling. It was Sam, and he was calling to rally the Avengers. 

* * *

Peter had run back to Aunt May’s to grab his suit, only to find Happy waiting there for him. The two of them rushed over to the Compound. Many of the surviving Avengers were already there. Scott and Bruce were arguing over…something. Bucky was cleaning his rifle, Sam was on the phone, Wanda was scrolling through something on her cell phone, and Rhodey appeared to be staring at everyone. Sam caught sight of Peter and nodded to him, but continued on his call. Peter hadn’t really gotten the chance to get to know the other Avengers, so this was going to be awkward. Before Peter could approach anyone though, Sam hung up his call, and turned to address everyone.

“Alright, everyone listen up. We’re just waiting on final approval through the Accords Council to go into the field, but that gives me enough time to brief you on the situation. Half an hour ago, a power surge combined with an unpredicted meteor shower exploded two and a half thousand kilometers above the atmosphere of the planet. Five minutes later, major cities in Asia and Europe lost power, from Seoul to Delhi, to Lagos. Scans have showed that the power surge appears to be absorbing the power, and unfortunately, it’s spreading west. Within the next fifteen minutes, New York is going to go dark, Los Angeles sometime in twenty. Doctor Strange went to go investigate the surge, only to find that something with a mass of a small moon has appeared at the center of it. Strange is rallying some more of the magicians he’s training, but he’s going to be transporting some of us to the new moon in hopes of us finding out what put it there, and negotiating it’s removal. The rest of us will be helping down on the ground here. When the city loses power, it’s going to be chaos. A lot of power-dependent places will have backup generators, but a load of them went down as well, so Parker, Maximoff, you two are going to be patrolling the Raft prison, keeping the inmates inside. Lang, Van Dyne, Barnes, you get local hospitals. Strange and myself will be on the planet, and Danvers is meeting us there. Everyone clear on what to do?”

Everyone nodded, and seemed to break apart, and Peter decided to approach Wanda. “Um, hi, I’m Peter. I guess I’m with you?”

The brunette woman looked down at him and nodded. “It appears so. Well then Peter, let’s get to the Raft.”

* * *

A few moments later, Peter and Wanda were perched on the roof of the Raft, which had been docked off of the port of Liberty Island. Peter looked around, identifying all of the skyscrapers, lit up by the lights inside, and wondered how it would look going completely dark. Wanda stared intensely at the ground, or rather the building’s ceiling.

“So, uh, you’re from Sokovia, right?” Peter asked, trying to fill the silence.

“Yes.” Wanda replied shortly.

“Cool.” Peter added, not sure what to say next. “Was it nice there?”

“No.” The silence continued.

“You know…”

“We do not need to talk. I do not like this place. The faster we can leave, the happier I will be.”

“Oh, okay then.” Peter said dejectedly, and allowed the silence to suffocate him. Luckily, it was not for long, because less than five seconds later, the power went out. The Statue of Liberty was engulfed in darkness, and New York disappeared. Peter looked up, and was amazed to see stars hanging over the city for the first time, but there was no time to ponder them. Noise began to erupt from inside the Raft, and it was time for them to do their jobs. The roof’s oculus began to retract and open, and Peter and Wanda dropped down onto the main floor.

The Raft had seven levels, including the basement and the priority cells. The rest of the cells were placed like a torus, along each level. Each cell had three layers of security, a fingerprint lock, the electronic lock, and the old-fashioned keyhole. Without the power, two of the levels of security would be down, and the prison held enough people who could be capable of disabling the third even from within the cell. Luckily, no one was being held in the priority cells, or in the basement, so there were only five floors to secure, but with two dozen cells on each floor, and 85% of the cells in the prison occupied, Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch were going to have their hands full.

“So, where are the prison guards in this place?” Peter asked, unnerved by the fact that he was surrounded by convicted felons in the dark. Something that should probably be normal, but at this moment in time, it was not. He could hear them moving around, muttering. Some were pulling on the grated doors, and metal was screeching everywhere.

“The Raft is mostly automated, and kept off-shore for a reason. Even if these guys escaped, the water surrounding the prison would make it unlikely for them to survive long enough for them to make it to shore. But the company hired to maintain the prison needed to bring the cells in the basement up to code, so the prison came to shore. The guards themselves are in the security box, trying to get the prison’s external security back online, they won’t be able to help.” Wanda whispered.

“You’re right about that little lady. No one will be able to help you now.” Peter and Wanda made eye-contact, both of them knowing that the other hadn’t said that. Slowly they turned around, preparing for what was about to come next.


	5. The Worst Part of the Job

The image of a large man the size of the Hulk was terrifying enough without the orange jumpsuit. But the jumpsuit plus the man’s baldness did make things worse.

Peter cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out where he had seen this guy before. “Hold up, aren’t you that Maggia mob boss, Fisk or something?”

“You got that right. And you’re the Spider-Man. I’ve seen you on tv recently.”

“Oh yeah? Can’t say I’d say the same thing about you.” Peter shifted into a stance, getting ready to defend himself.

“Get back in your cell Mr. Fisk.” Wanda ordered. “I will not ask again.”

“Now come on, little lady. Word is, we used to be on the same team.”

“I was not a mobster. I’m not even American.” Wanda hissed.

“Not the mob, little lady. HYDRA.” 

Peter whipped his head around to look at his fellow Avenger. “Wait, you were HYDRA?”

“Not really. They paid well, and we needed the money. I don’t believe in their practices.” With that, red energy began swirling around Wanda, and she started floating off of the floor. “Mr. Fisk, I will not ask again.”

“That’s too bad, since I’m not going anywhere.” Fisk also moved into a fighting stance, but he didn’t stay there, as a red energy blast hit him square in the chest and sent him flying back into the cell he vacated.

Peter moved quickly. The lock had been damaged, but the door itself was intact, so he shot several webs, securing the door to the wall, trapping the Kingpin inside the cell. But before he could even take a breath, someone else was coming at Peter. The man was smaller, more of Peter’s size, with a large scar over his left eye. As he made to punch Peter in the face, Peter also caught sight of a scorpion tattoo on his neck.

The man tried another punch, but he was blocked, and then Peter went on the offensive. He drop kicked the attacker, and then webbed him to the wall. Across the room he spied Wanda strong arming four prisoners back into their cells. Peter scanned his surroundings, looking around, making sure that no one else was out on the floor. Satisfied, he swung up to the floor above. Most of the prisoners had decided to stay in their cells upon seeing Fisk get locked up again, but Peter webbed every single door shut just in case. Before swinging to the third floor, Wanda floated up and checked in.

“All of the doors have been secured down there. I’ll take the top floors, we’ll meet in the middle, and then go back up through the oculus and watch from the roof.” She stated, and Peter nodded. He swung up, and patrolled the floor, noticing immediately that one of the cells was empty. Webbing the cells he passed, Peter approached the open cell, using his sensors to scan for the inmate.

Checking the cell number, Peter activated KAREN. “KAREN, run a check on the occupant of this cell. Cell R-34.” 

KAREN’s version of the loading circle pulsed on his HUD, before pulling up the prisoner’s rap sheet and records. Immediately, Peter recognized him.

“Shit.” The name Adrian Toomes stood out on Peter’s display, and he looked around frantically, trying to find the man whom Peter was responsible for being in prison. Not seeing him, Peter poked his head into the cell, wondering where the former Vulture, as the news had dubbed him, had gone. He looked around the cell, noticing how small it was. It was during that moment that Peter’s instincts screamed at him, and he turned around just in time to get punched in the face.

Peter fell backwards into the cell, and was only able to kick his foot out far enough to catch Toomes on the shin, stunning him enough to make the older man hesitate before he could slam the cell door closed. Peter scrambled up, and stuck to the wall above the door frame, and kicked Toomes in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. Toomes caught himself on the railing preventing him from falling down to the ground of the first floor. Peter dropped from the ceiling, and stood in the cell doorway, and he and Toomes started a standoff.

“So, identity’s out now then, huh Pete?” Toomes taunted. “Y’know, I talked to Liz yesterday, she told me about the press conference. Sounds like you’ve gotten used to this whole Spider-Man gig now.”

“Guess so. How is Liz?” Peter asked, trying to distract the other man.

“Oh, y’know, she’s doin’ good. Settling in at her new school, made some new friends. She’s still trying to figure out if she’s mad at you or not, but uh, I don’t blame her.”

“That’s…that’s good to hear.”

“Heard your old pal Stark kicked the bucket. Sorry about that.”  
  
“Yeah.” Peter looked up at the ceiling, an idea forming in his head. “So, how’s prison treating you?”

“Let’s be real Pete, prison sucks.”

“You know, I’ve heard that. But I guess you’ll have to deal with it for a little while longer.” With that, Peter shot two webs, one at the ceiling, one at Toomes. The ceiling web pulled Peter upwards, and Toomes swung like the end of a pendulum, right back into the cell. Peter released the edge, and the momentum sent Toomes straight into the reinforced concrete wall. Acting quickly, Peter shot another web, closing the cell door, and webbed it tight, securing the cell closed. Toomes scrambled up, and clutched the bars, snarling.

“One of these days Peter, I’m going to get out of this cell, and when I do, after spending some time with my family, I’m coming for you. You hear me Spider-Man? I will be coming for you!”

“Good to know. See ya!” With that, Peter saluted the prisoner, and backflipped over the railing, and then rapidly shot a web to the rim of the oculus, sailing upwards out of the RAFT. Wanda was standing on the roof, and she nodded at him, acknowledging his presence. It was at that moment that the power started to come back on, and the two Avengers watched as the city began to light up again. 

Sam’s voice crackled over their comms. “How’s everybody doing?” All of the other Avengers chimed in over comms, and then both Peter and Wanda chimed in a quick verbal affirmation that they were okay. The oculus for the prison closed, and the prison security came back online. Another voice sounded over the comms. 

“Hey, this is Officer Davis, we were running perimeter around Liberty Island. Prison security was just on the phone, all prisoners are accounted for. Thanks Spider-Man.”

“No problem Officer. Thanks for the heads up!” Peter relayed the officer’s message to Wanda, and the look on her face seemed to soften.

“Good. We need to head back to the Compound for a debrief, but it seems like we’re done here. Let’s go.” 

With that, she began floating in the sky, and Peter slung a web around each of her ankles, like she was a parachute. Moments later, they were back at the Compound, where Rhodey and Sam had just landed on the pad. Peter released the webs, and dropped down to the ground, next to the two men.

“How’d it go at the prison kid?” Rhodey asked.

“All good. The security came back online, and all prisoners were in their cells and accounted for before we left.”

“Good to know. I’ve heard a lot of things about some of those guys.” Rhodey stated, looking at Peter.

“Tell me about it. I helped arrest one of them.” Peter commented, before walking inside the building, leaving the two men to exchange glances before following him. “So, how does the debrief work?” Peter asked, turning around and walking backwards so that he could face Sam as the older man answered. 

“Well, a member of the Accords council will have some of the mission’s parameters and objectives available, and we will each present exactly what our jobs were and what we accomplished on the mission. Since you were teamed up with Wanda, she will be presenting your mission, but the council member may ask you to fill in any details. When that’s done, we’ll be dismissed, and Happy will take you home. During the meeting, you will be handed some paperwork, and you can fill that out while the rest of us are presenting, because the sooner it gets done, the better. The rest of us will be doing the same.”

“Got it. Anything else?” Peter asked, reaching behind him to open the doors to the Compound, and walked through it backwards, holding it open for Sam, Rhodey, and Wanda. The door was then allowed to swing closed, and Peter followed them to a large conference room, where indeed, someone was sitting down waiting for them.

“Are we the first back?” Sam asked the council member?”

The man shook his head. “No. Ant-Man and the Wasp are taking showers, having had to help secure an infectious disease quarantine. Barnes is still en-route, and Strange is wrapping things up at the Sanctum, but both will be here shortly.”

Sam nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Oh, you haven’t officially met Spider-Man yet. Mr. Parker, this is Brigadier General Glenn Talbot of the United States Air Force, and a member of the Sokovia Accords Council.”

“Hey, nice to meet you.” Peter offered his hand, but the other man did not move to shake. Awkwardly, Peter retracted his hand, and moved to stand next to Sam. They took their seats around the conference table, and waited for the others to join them. As the rest of the Avengers filed into the room, Peter tapped his fingers on the surface of the table, starting to get bored. What seemed like an hour later, everyone was seated, and Talbot stood up. 

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

* * *

The meeting dragged on, far longer than Peter hoped, and by the time it was Wanda’s turn to speak, the clock had ticked past midnight.

“Ms. Maximoff. You and Spider-Man were assigned to the RAFT security max prison docked on Liberty Island, with the purpose of keeping all prisoners in containment. Please provide your chain of events.”

Wanda straightened, and began to speak. “Spider-Man and myself entered the prison as soon as the lights went off and the prison’s oculus door opened on the roof. We used that door as our entry and exit point, starting on the main floor, and working our way up. Almost immediately we were engaged by inmates that had escaped from their cells, but we worked together to secure the prisoners floor by floor. After the first floor had been secured, Spider-Man secured all of the prisoners on the second and third floors, while I secured the prisoners on the fourth and fifth floors. We were informed by prison security that the basement level and the high priority cells were empty before entering, so the only cells we had to monitor were on the five floors we secured. After all of the floors were checked, we exited through the roof, and monitored the floors until the power returned. Spider-Man was then contacted through his comms system, which is linked to the NYPD, and we were informed that all prisoners were accounted for. We then left, and headed straight back here.”

Talbot nodded, and shuffled the papers in front of him. “You were engaged by inmates. How many?” He asked.

“I engaged four on the ground floor, and two on the fourth and fifth floors respectively.”

“Mr. Parker, how many did you engage?” Talbot asked, looking at Peter.

“Two on the ground floor, one on the third.” Peter reported, feeling nervous, even though he had no reason to be. “But, Ms. Maximoff and I did engage the same prisoner on the ground floor at one point.”

Talbot nodded again, and then squinted at the paper. “It says here one of the inmates that you engaged was Adrian Toomes?”

“Yes sir.” Peter stated.

“You are the reason Toomes was in prison, yes? You were the one to apprehend him at Coney Island?”

“Yes sir.”

“Did that pose a problem for you Mr. Parker?” 

“No sir. Toomes was not a problem.”

“Even though he threatened to kill you?” Talbot asked, his eyebrow raised.

“It wouldn’t be the first time he’s made that threat sir, but I can’t say I’d put much stock in the words of a man behind bars. I was more scared of him when he had a gun than when he was wearing an orange jumpsuit.”

“So you weren’t scared in the RAFT situation Mr. Parker?” Talbot asked, a warning tone coloring his voice.

“I didn’t say that. I was scared, but if I let my fear get in the way of doing my job, I would be in the wrong line of work sir.”

Satisfied with Peter’s answer, Talbot moved on. Some time later, the meeting ended, and Peter found himself in the back of Happy’s car, looking forward to going to bed. He’d just have to do his homework tomorrow.


	6. So Much For That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter chapter today y'all, I'll try and get a longer one up within the next few days. Also, let me know in the comments if it's been long enough that I can make an appropriate summary for the story, because I don't want to spoil things for anybody, but at the same time, I want to do better than the two-sentence intro I've got at the moment.
> 
> Also, a quick thank you to everyone who's commented on this story, seriously, y'all are amazing! I've never been so motivated to stick with a story before, and I really appreciate all the nice things. Let me know in the comments if there's anyone you want to see Peter interact with, and prepare for a serious whump chapter that's coming up. Love y'all, byeeee!

It was a good thing that Peter was used to staying up late as a result from Spidey patrols, as otherwise he would be exhausted. School was still a thing he had to deal with, so the morning after the Avengers call, Peter was up early to go to class.

Ned had met him outside of the building, ready to ask Peter all of the questions he had after seeing that the Avengers had been called in to assist from the power outage. Peter had filled him in briefly, but was too exhausted to go into any detail. Ned, noticing his best friend’s state, realized how tired he must be, and then did his best to keep Peter out of trouble for the rest of the day. By lunch time, Peter was ready to take a nap, but that was when everything went to shit.

Right before they were released for lunch, Peter’s math teacher got a phone call, and informed him that he needed to go to the principle’s office. The information alarmed Peter, and woke him up a little bit, and as he walked all the way to Principle Morina’s office, Peter tried to think of all the reasons why he might be going there. Not that it mattered, because as soon as he knocked on the principle’s door, Peter saw exactly what the problem was.

Sat in the chairs in front of Morina’s desk were Nick Fury and Maria Hill, and Peter fought the urge to turn around and go back to class. “Director Fury, nice to see you again. Agent Hill.” Peter spit out, nervous, and just a tad angry. Why were they here?

“Mr. Parker. Apologies for interrupting your school day, but unfortunately, I need to borrow you. You’ve been excused from classes for the rest of the day, and I have written permission from your aunt to check you out of school. Could you come with me please?” Fury stated, the last question not really sounding like a request that Peter could refuse.

Peter nodded, and then thanked Principle Morina for his time, before stepping aside and allowing the two SHIELD agents to lead him out of the school building. “So…what’s up?” He asked, dreading the idea of another mission so soon.

“We’ve got some intel for you. I figured you’d be interested in the investigation into Beck and his associates, and we got a lead.”

Immediately, Peter perked up. “Oh yeah. The bus driver?”

Fury spun around and glared at Peter. “Yeah, that would’ve been nice to know before the work day ended.”

Peter dropped his head under the man’s stare. “Sorry, I texted you as soon as I found out.”

“Hmm.” Fury acquiesced. He turned back around, and continued walking. “Yes. CCTV on-board the bus gave us a good picture and we were able to face-match him to a former Stark Industries employee. After that, we started looking at other disgruntled employees, and matched twelve faces to passengers traveling to each of the countries that got attacked. We’re tracking them down now, and Ms. Potts is meeting us at the airport to fly to DC and interrogate some of the ones we’ve captured.”

Peter halted suddenly, processing the last statement. “Uh, Mr. Fury sir, I’m sorry, but I can’t go to DC!”

Fury groaned. “And why not?”

Frantically, Peter searched for a reason not to go. “Because…I’ve got…homework.” The line made Peter think of the time he had been recruited to go to Berlin, and made him feel all the more guilty.

Fury and Hill stared at Peter. “Did…he…seriously…just say that?” Fury asked, turning his head to stare at his companion. Hill didn’t take her eyes off Peter, but she nodded. Peter winced, and Fury turned back to him.

“Mr. Fury, I appreciate you filling me in, but sir, the agreement I made with my aunt, and don’t think I believe that signature is legit for a second, and Happy AND Ms. Potts is that my life, including school stays as normal as possible. If you need Spider-Man to fight a battle, fine, but you’re talking about standing outside an interrogation room in a different state. I appreciate you keeping me in the loop, but if I miss more classes as a result of being Spider-Man, I might not graduate. And I’m already a couple years late on that.” Peter stood his ground, and stared up at the man, trying to hide how much the older spy terrified him.

Fury straightened up, and looked at Hill again, who shrugged her shoulders. Fury’s look changed to disbelief, and then acceptance. He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. Don’t come to DC. I’ll text you any updates, but since I got you out of school anyways, you might as well go home. I’m sure you must be tired after your mission last night.”

With that, the spy stalked off, his long coat flapping behind him in the wind. Agent Hill stayed, still staring at Peter.

“I admire you Parker. You stand your ground when you need to, and you’ve managed to handle your life well so far. But one of these days, you might just have to give up this normal life, and you really should prepare for that.” With that, the woman nodded, and followed her boss, climbing into the black SUV and speeding off. Peter stood in front of the school building, trying to decide what to do, before saying “Fuck it. I’m going home.”

Some twenty minutes later, Peter was sitting in his bedroom, finishing the homework that he had neglected the night before, when Ned texted him.

“Dude, did you skip class again?” Peter smirked and texted back.

“Nope. They tracked down some of Mysterio’s associates, and I almost got kidnapped to go to DC and interrogate them.”

“Woah! Wait, what do you mean almost?” 

“I decided to catch up on homework after the mission last night.”

“You had a mission last night??!! I should've guessed, but dude, deets!”

“The power cut was alien, and I had to provide a little extra security to a max security prison.” 

“Awesome!”

“IKR???!” Peter, satisfied with the conversation and went back to his homework.

Three hours later, he had finished all of the work he had to do for school, and finally, Peter decided to take a nap before going out on patrol later that night. It seemed like he had only laid down for a second though, before May was shaking him awake.

“Peter, Peter honey, you need to wake up.”

Peter stirred, and rubbed his eyes, noticing that the sun was still up, so he couldn’t have been asleep long. Checking his phone, he had been asleep maybe forty minutes.

“Wassup Aun’ May?” Peter asked blearily.

“Peter there are some strange men in uniform standing in our living room and they need to talk to you.” May whispered, and Peter tried his best to perk up. “Does one of them have n’ eyepatch?” Peter asked, slowly coming to. 

“What? No. Peter, get up!”

“I’m up. ‘m up.” Peter rolled out of his bed, and straightened his clothes, before following his aunt out of the room. He patted down his bedhead and cracked the joints in his fingers, and walked into the living room, noticing a lot of guys in military dress uniforms.

“Can…can I help you?” Peter stammered, immediately nervous. One of the men who’s back was turned moved to face Peter. It was Brigadier General Talbot.

“Sir? How can I help you?”

“Mr. Parker. I apologize for interrupting your evening, but could you come with me please?”

“May I ask where?” Peter stammered out, getting increasingly worried.

“No, you may not. Pack a bag, pack for three days, and pack your suit. And before you ask, no, you may not ask why.”

“Sir, I’m sorry, sir, but I’m going to need more information than that.”

“Tough luck there son. Not going to happen.”

“Is Peter being arrested?” May asked, standing behind her nephew, clutching his shoulders.

Talbot softened, seeing the contact between the family members. “No ma’am. But as a signee of the Sokovia Accords, Mr. Parker may be required to assist any government agreed with the Accords in any operation that might require his skill set, at any time. And that time…has come. So, without divulging any more information, we need to go now.” 

Not knowing what to say, Peter turned around, and quickly packed a bag, slipping some toiletries, his phone charger, and the SHIELD stealth suit and the new black and red suit. He ran a quick mental checklist through his head, wondering what else he might need over the next three days. Soon enough, an extra twenty web canisters and a pair of headphones also made their way into the bag. He figured he could use some of the money he had saved up from helping various people around the city in case he needed to buy anything. Or, maybe Talbot would supply it, if he was going on a super secret mission. Satisfied, he slung the bag over his back, and met Talbot at the door.

Looking back at May, Peter said reassuringly “I’ll keep you updated okay?” She nodded, and clasped her hands, watching the military guys escort her nephew out the door. She turned her attention to the ceiling and prayed “Mr. Stark, I don’t know if you’re up there, but keep him safe for me, please?”

Peter made it down the stairs and into the black SUV that the men had arrived in without saying anything, but by the time they had gotten going, Peter was bursting with questions. Talbot was sitting across from Peter in the car, and Peter tried his best not to fidget.

“So, uh, can you tell me what’s going on now?” Peter stammered, not sure if he was allowed to talk.

“Everything will be explained when we get there.” Talbot stated, his tone not inviting Peter to ask another question. Peter did not pick up on that however.

“And where is there?” Peter asked. Talbot glared at Peter, irritated that the boy kept asking questions.

“That’s need to know.”

“And don’t I need to know?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. Because you won’t be staying there long anyways.”

“Oh. Why?”

Talbot snapped. “Parker. Are you physically incapable of shutting up?”

Peter flinched and said “Uh, sometimes sir, yes.”

One of the soldiers who had accompanied Talbot snorted at Peter’s answer, and Talbot’s ire was momentarily redirected away from Peter. It wasn’t long however, before Talbot was back to glaring at Peter.

“Well, you better make sure that this is not one of those times then. For christ’s sake, this is why we shouldn’t work with kids.” The last part of Talbot’s statement was muttered under his breath, but Peter heard it all the same.

“With all due respect sir, you came to me. I can’t help my age.” Peter retorted, slightly angry about the cause for Talbot’s irritation.

“No, but you can keep your mouth closed, before I close it for you.” The threat made Peter very uncomfortable, but he did his best to stay silent anyways. Finally, the car stopped, and when Peter got out of the car, he didn’t recognize where he was. There were yards of tarmac in every direction, but no nearby buildings or vehicles.

But before Peter could ask anything, one of the soldiers muttered something into a radio, and out of nowhere, a large, black plane appeared out of thin air in front of them. The cargo door started to open, and a man in a pressed suit, and a woman in a black combat uniform walked out.

The man approached Peter, and held out his hand, offering for Peter to shake it. “Mr. Parker, my name is Agent Phil Coulson. I work for SHIELD. This is Agent Daisy Johnson. I realize General Talbot probably hasn’t filled you in on what’s going on here, so if you could come with me, I can explain exactly why we need your help.”


	7. Mission (Im)Possible

“Agent Coulson?” Peter pondered. Isn’t that the guy that… “Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

Coulson turned around, an all-knowing smirk on his face. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Mr. Stark mentioned you, sir. Thor as well.” 

“The kid’s met Thor?” The female agent, Agent Johnson, cast a surprised glance at Coulson.

“Well, he IS an Avenger Daisy.” Coulson replied.

“Yeah, but…” Daisy glanced back at Peter, her eyes scanning him up and down. Peter sighed. Why did he have the feeling he was going to be underestimated a lot within the next few hours. 

“To answer your question Mr. Parker, yes, I did die during the Attack in New York. My death was not permanent, as you can see, and that’s really all you need to know about that without things becoming a very long story. Now, I’m going to introduce you to Agents Fitz and Simmons, and then we’ll brief you on what we’re about to walk into. Do you have your suit?”

Peter got slightly distracted, looking around at everything that was going on around him, but the question made him snap his head back to look at Agent Coulson. “Yes, sir.” 

“Good, now, follow me, please. Daisy, will you go and inform Agent May that we are ready for takeoff?”

“You got it.” With that, Agent Johnson disappeared down a corridor, and Coulson led Peter into a lab-like area. Peter thought it reminded him of Avengers Tower, just a little bit.

“Fitzsimmons?” Coulson called out. Immediately, two heads poked out from behind a computer monitor at the far end of the room. “I’d like you to meet Peter Parker. He’ll be helping us out on our upcoming mission.”

The woman of the two rapidly walked over to Peter, and held out her hand. “It is very nice to meet you Mr. Parker. My name is Jemma Simmons, this is my partner,” She indicated to the male agent. “…Agent Fitz. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

A little dazed, Peter shook her hand, and mumbled: “It’s nice to meet you too.” He then coughed and said “I like your lab. It looks amazing.”

Fitz turned around and looked around the room. “It is pretty cool, isn’t it.” The man put his hands on his hips, and then walked back to the monitor he had previously been looking at. “So, we’ve been asked to make sure that you’re appropriately equipped for the upcoming mission, so, bathroom’s through that door, get changed into your suit, and we can get started.”

Peter nodded, and started walking towards the indicated bathroom, before pausing. “Uh, I might have overprepared a little, but which suit?”

Jemma raised her eyebrows. “Do you have more than one?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. I’ve got the SHIELD one, I can put that on if you like.”

Both Fitz and Simmons were now staring at Peter. “SHIELD gave you a suit?” Fitz asked.

Peter nodded once more. “Yeah, uh, Director Fury gave it to me.” 

The two of them exchanged glances, before staring back at Peter. “I think you should go with the SHIELD one. It might help with keeping a low profile for now.”

With that, Peter proceeded to the bathroom, and changed into the black stealth suit that he’d last worn in Prague. He left the mask off, opting to just carry it in his hand for the moment, and he rejoined Fitz and Simmons in their lab. 

Upon seeing Peter, Simmons nodded, and turned to Fitz. “Yes, I think that will work very well.” Fitz gave Peter a quick glance, and nodded in agreement. “Right, then. We have a firearm over here we want you to try…”

“No.” Peter refused, solidly.

“It’s non-lethal, called the Night-Night gun…”

“No.” Peter tried his best to sound firm in his position. 

“But…” Fitz tried again. 

“No.” Peter refused. “I don’t carry guns, not now, not ever. I have webs that can knock people out if need be, and I have built-in tasers as well. I don’t need a gun.”

Fitz clicked his mouth shut, and looked at Jemma, lost at what to do.

“The gun is standard SHIELD issue, and it would only be…” She tried.

“No. Wherever I go in the suit, I am recognizable, and I cannot afford to be recognized carrying a gun. It’s not going to happen.” Peter felt like he was losing his nerve, but luckily Fitz and Simmons backed down.

“Fine. Okay. No matter. There is one more thing, but it’s not a weapon. Will climbing on a ceiling be affected by a backpack at all?” Simmons asked. 

Peter shook his head. “No. Backpacks, thigh holsters, and anything in pockets around the waist and legs won’t affect me. It’s when we get to hands, feet, and joints that there’s an issue with carrying weight.”

“And how much can you carry?” Simmons asked, consulting a tablet.

“About 35…”

“Pounds?” Simmons cut him off, a hopeful look on her face. Peter smirked. 

“Tons.” 

Astonished looks graced both of the scientist’s faces. “I can lift about 75 tons, but I can only carry 35. At least, crawling on the ceiling.” Peter added, trying to sound humble.

“This will be a piece of cake then.” Fitz said, and Jemma swatted him in the stomach. “Don’t jinx us.” She hissed. Then she walked over to a table, and picked up a backpack. The bag itself was solid, looking a bit like a beetle shell, and straps hung down with clasps for fastening around Peter’s arms and across his chest and waist. She opened the bag through a zipper at the side, and pulled a small round device out. 

“This is a confined shockwave device. You haven’t been briefed on the mission yet, but we need to retrieve something, and unfortunately for us, it is very large. However, we don’t need it in one piece, so you are going to put this on the object, and it should break…” 

Fitz snorted in offence, and Jemma rolled her eyes. “…should break into smaller pieces. You will then carry the pieces out, as many as you can at a time. In order to make it work, you need to place this on top of the object, get it as flat and level as possible, and push this button. There will be a slight delay before anything happens, I suggest you use that to get as far away as possible, and then it will emit a series of shockwaves that will shatter the object into fragments. When the device then sounds a loud beep, that means you are clear to approach, and you can pick the device up. You need to bring it with you, because we can’t leave anything behind.” 

Peter nodded, following. But he still had a question. “And why do you need me to do this?” 

Fitz answered, before Simmons could respond. “Because the object we need to get is in the middle of a literal fortress. There are only two ways in to the room where the object is being held. The door where it was airlifted in, a fifty foot long tube that is protected with lasers that do not have any gaps larger than six square inches, and a corridor patrolled by a dozen guards and multiple cameras. The guards, we will take care of, but I can’t hack the cameras because they’re connected to a protected server, which is in a bunker, twenty-five feet below said fortress. If we’re seen on the cameras, there is an entire army of soldiers who will overrun, capture, and kill us. But all the cameras are pointed at the ground. The entire ceiling is one large blind spot, so that’s why we need you. You are the only person who can move through the blind spot without setting the army on us. Got it?”

Peter stared at the Scottish man in awe. “Got it.” Peter responded, getting just a tad excited, the Mission Impossible theme song coming to mind.

* * *

Moving to the briefing room, Peter overlooked the building schematics, and the 3D rendering of the fortress he was about to sneak into. Agent Coulson ran the brief. 

“May, Daisy, Mack, and myself will be taking care of the guards outside of the hallway, and Peter will be then proceeding along the ceiling into the room, and detonating the device to destroy the white monolith.” A picture of a large, rectangular rock spun on the screen. “When the device has detonated, Peter will move the fragments back along the corridor, and Fitz and Simmons will take then and store them in the truck. We must move as quickly and quietly as possible without being careless. When all of the guards are out of the picture, Daisy, you and Mack will go and help out Fitz, Simmons and Peter. If anything goes wrong, our priority is getting our people out, Peter included. Even fragments of the monolith should be enough, but the whole thing is best. Everyone clear on their job?” Coulson finished, scanning the room, eyes landing on Peter.

Everyone nodded, and the woman Peter would come to learn as Agent May walked back into the plane’s cockpit. Shortly, her voice came over the speaker system. “Everyone prepare for landing.”

Peter followed Fitz and Simmons to the main communal room, where they took their seats. Peter snuck his phone out of his pocket, and checked his messages. He had three unread texts, one from May, one from MJ, and one from an unknown number. Opening the unknown number, Peter read the message.

“Update: We got three of Beck’s associates, and we’re following leads on the others. Twelve in total, not including him. We’re running through CCTV footage in Prague, London, and Venice. Any ideas?”

Thinking through the events of the summer, Peter remembered Berlin. “Check Berlin too. Beck and I met there before we went to London. I went to confront him there after I figured out something was wrong.”

Sending a short message of reassurance to May, Peter then hesitated before checking MJ’s message. The hesitation didn’t last long however, and Peter opened it anyways. “Hey, I noticed you weren’t in class today. U ok?”

Peter smiled to himself and messaged back. “Yeah, I had to go on a mission. I can’t tell you anything right now, but we’ll talk later.” Turning off the phone before slipping it in his pocket, Peter tried to focus on the task that was about to be at hand. 

* * *

The landing was fairly smooth, and soon May gave the all clear for people to move about. Fitz leapt up and dashed to the lab, gathering all the equipment he would need for the mission. Peter and Simmons were slightly slower, but by the time all three of them reached the fortress, all of the guards were disabled and unconscious, and Peter had the green light to do his job. Fitz did a quick comms check on Peter, before flipping the boy a thumbs up.

Peter took a deep breath, and belted on the backpack. He pulled on his mask, and webbed his way up to the ceiling. Sticking easily, he crawled along the corridor, noting each camera on his mask display. Reaching the end, Peter opened the door, and entered the room where this monolith was supposed to be. That was when he ran into a problem.

The room schematics had the corridor and the monolith room on the same level, but looking around, the entire place looked like the inside of a missile silo. Frantically, Peter hailed Coulson on the comms. “Coulson, come in.” Peter whispered.

“Coulson. Peter, what’s the problem?” Coulson asked.

“The schematics for the fortress interior are wrong. I reckon I am about 800 feet above the monolith, the floor is in the wrong place.”

“What!” Fitz whisper-shrieked. “How the hell…” 

“Okay, we need to figure this out. Peter, can you get down there?” 

“Yes, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to maintain climbing up and down and through the corridor. Also, there are cameras in here!”

“There weren’t any in our intel.” Fitz hissed.

Outside the compound, Coulson rubbed the bridge of his nose, before deciding on a plan. “May, can you get to the soldiers barracks? I have the feeling we are going to need to keep as many of them there as possible.”

May made a noise of assent, and picked up a duffle back she had sitting next to her. Inside the bag were three sleeping-gas grenades, a crowbar, and a lock on a heavy-duty chain. Quietly, she snuck away to disable the army of soldiers waiting for command.

“Daisy, you, Mack, and Fitz are going to storm the compound. Fitz, you’ve got to get in that camera server, we’ve got no choice now. Move fast, stick together. Simmons, I’m coming to you. As soon as Fitz disables the cameras, and takes control of the security room, you and I are going down that hallway, and propelling down to get the monolith fragments. Peter, hold your position until Fitz gives you the all-clear.”

Peter nodded, before remembering that Coulson couldn’t see him. “Got it.” Peter whispered, before crawling to the center of the silo. As soon as Fitz told him to go, Peter would drop down on a web, Tom Cruise-style, and place the device on top of the monolith. Peter slipped the device out of the backpack, and tucked it in the pocket meant for bulletproof ceramic tiles, carefully making sure not to push the button.

He could hear lots of shouting on the comms as Agent Mack and Agent Johnson stormed the building. Forty minutes later, Fitz’s voice sounded over the headset. “We’ve made it to the security room, and I’ve hacked into the server. Got control of the cameras, and…you…are…clear. Peter, you can drop now.”

With the go-ahead, Peter descended down towards the white rock, and gingerly placed the device on top of it like Simmons had instructed. Pushing the button, Peter retracted himself back up just in time to see the shockwaves pulse through the rock. But it didn’t break. It didn’t even crack. The device beeped, and Peter stared at it, not sure what to do now.

“Um…Fitz.” 

“Yeah, what?” 

“The rock didn’t break.” 

“WHAT?” Fitz yelped, turning back to the cameras. Rewinding the footage, he watched Peter put the device on the rock, push the button, and then, the rock…absorbed the shockwaves. “Dammit. It absorbed the shockwaves.”

“So now what?” Daisy asked. “I’m not going to be any use then, so, what do we do?”

“How heavy is it, do you reckon?” Peter wondered aloud.

“About 450 pounds. Why?” Coulson asked.

Making a decision, Peter changed the settings on his webs. “Coulson, you and Simmons stay where you are. I’m bringing the rock to you.”

“Uh, how?” Mack asked, the question not really directed at Peter. But he and Fitz stared at their teammates through the cameras, and watched as Peter executed his plan.

Webbing each side of the monolith, Peter started creating a net, one strong enough to lift the large rock up off the ground. Connecting the net to Peter’s web holding him up, Peter disconnected himself, and dropped down to the floor. Shooting some extra webs under the rock, Peter secured the entire weight of the monolith to the line. Swinging back up to the ceiling, Peter made eye contact with Coulson and Simmons, who were watching him intently. Pulling on the line, the monolith started rising off of the floor, and as it got closer, Peter shot more webs at it to reinforce the web lifting the rock. Finally, the monolith was suspended at the height of the ground Coulson and Simmons were standing on. Securing the line at that length, Peter let go of the monolith, making sure it was steady before crawling back over to Coulson. Webbing the side of the monolith, Peter pulled it closer to him, until the monolith was barely resting on the floor by their feet. Securing it to the ceiling he had crawled along, Peter disconnected the line, and the monolith tipped flat onto the floor next to them.

The two SHIELD agents stared at Peter in astonishment. “How…the hell…” Coulson couldn’t find the words, but Simmons grinned at Peter like the piece of sunshine she was. “Wonderful. Now we just need to get this hunk of rock out of here.” 

“Is there a ramp on the truck?” Peter asked, and she nodded. “Great. Put it down, and I’ll push this thing down the hall. Coulson, you can help me lift it onto the ramp when we get there.”

With that, Peter positioned himself behind the rock, and started pushing it down the hallway. It was much harder to do, because friction was now a factor, but soon enough, the rock was down the hall, and Peter was exhausted. By the time he had reached the ramp, all of the SHIELD agents were present. Peter made to reach and lift the rock, but Coulson pushed him back.

“We’ve got this one. Nice work.” Peter nodded, and watched the agents push the monolith into the truck and secure it. Fitz drove the truck on-board the plane, and everybody followed it into the cargo hangar.

* * *

Soon enough they were back in the air, flying home.

Coulson placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “That was impressive back there. If you ever think about doing stuff like that full-time, give me a call.” He passed Peter a shiny black business card with the SHIELD logo outlined on it in matte black. Peter nodded in appreciation, and sat on the couch by himself, not sure what to do. 

Agent Johnson walked into the room, and sat next to Peter. “I saw the footage on the cameras. That was incredible, what you did there.” 

“Thank you.” Peter said, flushing slightly at the compliment.

“So, you can climb on walls, swing on webs, lift really freaking heavy things, what else?” She asked.

“Well, I have super-senses, I guess, so, for example I can hear your heartbeat, if I wanted to. I could tell you what Fitz is saying right now, since the lab door is open. I can tell you that Agent May has the plane on autopilot, she’s just hiding in the cockpit to avoid people, and I can spot things from really far away. That’s how I saw the cameras.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. I mean, that’s so much cooler than what I can do.” 

Peter looked up at her in surprise. “What can you do?” He asked, curious.

“Well, that device, that was supposed to destroy the rock? I can do that, with my hands, emitting blast waves. It’s why I wear these special gloves. If I don’t…”

“It’ll destroy your bones.” Peter guessed. “They redirect the energy you emit, focusing them out of a specific point, and it takes the stress off the skeletal structure so that you don’t break your arm while blasting someone.” 

“Yeah.” Daisy smiled at the boy.

“How did you get your powers, were you born with them?” Peter asked.

“No. Uh, I’m part of a small population of people, Inhumans, that have alien genetics mixed in with human ones. Kree DNA. The powers then come when the DNA is activated by a process known as Terragenesis.”

“Kree?” Peter asked. “Isn’t that the race of people Captain Danvers lived with, before she became Captain Marvel?” 

Daisy shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met her.” 

“So, does everyone with the alien DNA go through Terragenesis?” Peter was really interested now.

“No. There’s a special crystal, not native to Earth, that is needed to start the process. I was exposed to some on a mission, and got my powers. What about you, how did you get yours?”

“Well, I got bitten by a radioactive spider.” Peter admitted, the origin story far less cooler than Agent Johnson’s. 

She raised an eyebrow. “There was a radioactive spider running loose in New York? Shouldn’t loads of people have been affected?”

Peter shrugged, and said “I don’t know. The spider died right after biting me, so maybe I was just unlucky enough to be exposed before the radiation killed it. Him. Her. Whatever the spider was.”

“Maybe.” Before either of them could say anything else though, the entire plane shook. Both Peter and Daisy toppled to the floor. Glass could be heard crashing from the lab. Mack stumbled into the room.

“What the hell was that?” The tall man asked. But the plane shook once more, before they could answer. Coulson pulled Fitz and Simmons into the room.

“What’s going on?” Peter called out to Coulson, who was now stumbling towards the cockpit.

“Don’t know. May? What’s going on?” The older man called out to the pilot, who was rapidly flipping switches.

“Not sure. My instruments are fritzing, and something is firing at us.”

“Anti-aircraft missiles?” Coulson asked. 

“No.” The woman replied. “Whatever it is, we can’t see it.”

Peter joined the two in the cockpit. “Can’t see what?” 

Coulson answered. “Whatever’s attacking us.” 

“Want me to go out and look?” Peter asked. May looked at the teenager like he had lost his mind. 

“What? It’s not like I’m going to fall off. Sticky feet remember?” Peter tried to justify his idea.

“It’s a bad idea…” May started to say, but the plane shook a third time, and a warning bell sounded.

“But it’s the only idea we’ve got. Try and land. Peter, there’s a hatch to get on top of the plane in the vehicle hangar. You can get outside there. Please do not fall off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have borrowed a lot from Agents of SHIELD here, but I'm gonna be honest. I've lost the plot on the timeline here, so I'm just pulling random things out of memory and putting them in the present. They still have the Bus, Daisy has powers, Yo-Yo's not here, but this kind of takes place after they've met her. That's all I've got.
> 
> Also, yes. Peter's idea is a very stupid idea and y'all can probably guess why. Hint: The first line of the next chapter is as follows. "Naturally, Peter fell off of the plane, not that he told Agent Coulson that." I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted, but hopefully, I can finish it soon. Enjoy!


	8. Bad Ideas Have Consequences

Naturally, Peter fell off of the plane, not that he told Agent Coulson that. Not his most graceful moment, Peter flew right off of the top the minute he let go of the hatch. Only quick thinking stopped him plummeting some thirty thousand feet to his death. Using a web to catch him, Peter held on for dear life, trailing along the top of the airplane like a ribbon on a kite.

At the time, Peter wishes he could’ve said something a bit cooler than “AHHHHHHHHH” but looking back now, it was probably a very natural reaction. Nevertheless, he reeled himself back to the hull of the plane, and stuck himself firmly to the metal. Looking around, Peter tried to identify what had attacked the plane, but found himself thrown off balance once more when the plane shook in the air.

Frantically, Peter turned around, trying to identify what was going on, but he couldn’t see anything. There wasn’t anything there. He looked around once more, but there was nothing. Closing his eyes, Peter took control of his breathing, and began to rely on the Spider-sense. Reaching out, Peter tried to identify what was happening, and then, he shot a web into the open air. But the web didn’t fly off into space. It hit something.

Opening his eyes, Peter looks at the object flying around. The way the web spread out, Peter could see it was too large to be a drone or a bird. Luckily, May must have seen the object as well, because immediately, the object was shot down. The hatch opened, and Fitz popped his head out.

“PETER! GET DOWN HERE!” He yelled, over the wind rushing alongside them.

Thinking that was the best idea Peter had heard since he had gotten on top of the plane, Peter followed Fitz back down the hatch. When he was back inside the plane, most of the agents were standing around, underneath, looking at him.

“Did Agent May shoot down the thing?” Peter asked, feeling a little dazed.

Coulson nodded. “Yeah, it crash-landed in a field. May’s putting us down on a nearby road. Wanna check it out?”

* * *

Seeing the crash site was like seeing something out of an action movie. Half of the field was on fire, and there was debris everywhere.

Peter had put his mask on in order to go outside of the plane, but Coulson ordered him to keep it on to inspect the wreckage. Analyzing some of the components using the scanners in his mask, Peter noticed some anomalies. Some of the objects weren’t being recognized as any form of Earth-like substance.

Peter barely had time to realize then that Coulson had shouted for everyone to get down before a shockwave sent everyone flying, and Peter was knocked into unconsciousness.

* * *

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm was very annoying, and Peter tried to reach out to hit snooze, but his arm felt so…heavy…he…couldn’t…move…it. Trying once more, Peter made an effort to move his arm, and this time, in doing so, felt pain.

Groaning, Peter tried to open his eyes, but they were almost as heavy as his arm. It took great strength to get his eyelids to obey, but regretted it almost instantly. Bright light shone into his eyes, and Peter scrunched his eyes shut, emitting a weak noise.

Be-beep. Be-beep. Be-beep. The alarm changed. Wait. Not an alarm. A…heart rate monitor?

Struggling to open his eyes once more, Peter slowly got adjusted to his surroundings. Was he in a hospital?

Wriggling along the bed to try and prop his head up, Peter looked around. He was in a glass box. What the hell? Looking through the walls, he could see similar boxes on either side, patients in beds…was that Fitz?

The box next to his had Agent Fitz in the bed, still unconscious. Sitting up, Peter’s ribs complained, not happy with the movement after whatever had happened. What had happened? Had there been an accide…the explosion. The object that had attacked the plane had exploded. Rubbing his forehead, Peter tried to banish the oncoming headache that was developing.

Tap tap tap. Looking around, Peter realized that someone was knocking on the glass. It was Doctor Strange. The teen adopted a confused look on his face, and cocked his head like a dog. What was he doing here? What was here? Where was here?

Peter tried to climb out of bed, and that was when Doctor Strange waved his hands frantically as if to say “No, don’t do that.” Unsure of what to do, Peter stayed on the bed, staring at the magician. All of a sudden, there was a low whirring noise, and the glass panels acting as walls started to roll down, like car windows. As soon as the glass was receded completely into the floor, Doctor Strange entered the room. 

“How are you feeling Peter?" 

A little overwhelmed and confused, Peter thought, but he didn’t say that. “Fine. My chest is a little sore, but it’s not unbearable.”

Strange nodded, and produced a clipboard tablet from the depths of his cape. “Well the soreness isn’t surprising since every bone in your ribcage was either fractured or broken when we found you. Your accelerated healing is definitely an added bonus in this case.”

“What happened?” Peter asked.

Strange looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Peter was really beginning to hate that look. “You don’t remember?”

“I remember the mission, and I remember the attack. I remember the flying thing going down, and we went to investigate the crash, and then…nothing.” 

“Well, to fill you in, two days ago, a drone, of alien origin, picked up the signal of your cargo, and decided to steal it. The SHIELD agents shot it down, damaging the power core, and after that, it became a time bomb, waiting to explode. Unfortunately, you were just in proximity to said explosion.”

“Oh. So I got blown up again.” Peter said casually. Strange raised both eyebrows at the cavalier comment, but didn’t say anything. “Wait a minute, did you say two days ago?” Peter’s voice got higher in volume towards the end of the question. “I’ve been here two days?”

Strange nodded. Peter panicked internally, and said “I’ve got to talk to my Aunt, she must be worried. Can I have my phone?”

“Peter.”

“I should probably also text Ned and MJ, they might be worried as well. Oh man, I’ve missed so much school, my homework’s going to be late…”

“Peter.”

“I’m going to be doing make-up work from now until I graduate…” 

“Peter!” Strange finally got the teen’s attention. “I can’t give you a phone right now, but your aunt and friends have been informed that you were injured on an official mission, and are in hospital. However, the location of the hospital has not been disclosed to them.”

“Why not?” Peter asked.

“Because we don’t want them visiting.” Strange answered, not meeting the boy’s eyes.

“Why not?” Peter’s tone grew concerned. 

“Peter, the drone was powered by a condensed nuclear reactor. You were exposed to some high-level radiation.”

Nuclear reactor. Explosion. Wait…

“Shouldn’t I have symptoms of radiation poisoning then?” Peter frowned, looking at his arms for traces of burns, rashes, boils, anything.

“Your suit absorbed a lot of the radiation, it seems like it was made to do that. But we need to keep you under observation for any signs of sickness within the next 36 hours, we have you on a strict medication regime. In the meantime, I need to discuss something with you.”

Uh oh, that didn’t sound good. “Okay?”

“Peter, when we found you, one of the first things we did was conduct x-rays. Full-body, focusing on limbs, chest, skull…”

“Yeah, what’s your point?” Peter interrupted, trying to move the conversation along.

The doctor frowned slightly, but continued. “Peter, I’m just going to ask you…”

Peter raised his eyebrows, not sure what was coming next.

“How many bones have you broken?” Strange spat out, a concerned, or disturbed, look on his face.

What. That was is? Peter thought, not sure as to the relevance of the question. 

“I’m not sure, why?” He said, unaware of how truly horrifying it was not to know the answer. 

“Because Peter, bones have scars, left after breaking. Sometimes, over time, depending on the bone, the scars heal and fade, whereas others seem to last forever. You have more scars than I’ve ever seen on a skeletal structure before, and I used to work in a hospital.”

“What’s your point?” Peter asked.

“Peter, I can see that many of the scars are recent. Broken arms, fractured pelvic bone, fractures along the parietal and temporal bones, multiple breaks on both clavicle bones…I know you have accelerated healing, but these look like they happened only a few weeks ago.” 

“Probably did,” Peter admitted. “I got hit by a train in Europe.”

Strange stared at the teenager, processing the admission. Not saying anything, the man turned around and left, leaving Peter to stare after him, sitting alone in a glass box.

* * *

Strange stalked into the room, which was preoccupied with a variety of people. Pepper Potts sat at the end of a large conference table, tapping away on a tablet. Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes appeared to be having a staring contest. Hope Van Dyne sat next to Pepper, and Happy Hogan paced along the far end.

Spotting Strange, Happy stopped pacing, and faced the magician. “How is he?” The former bodyguard asked, worried about the young superhero.

“He’s fine, so far. No symptoms of radiation poisoning, ribs are healing at a rapid rate, he should be up walking in the next twelve hours. No more sign of a concussion, which is expected. However…”

The addendum to the end of the diagnosis had everyone looking at the doctor with a concerned look.

“The boy has almost no sense of self-preservation in terms of health. I asked him about the x-ray results, and his response was ‘I got hit by a train in Europe’ like it was no big deal. He’s broken multiple bones since becoming Spider-Man, I’d bet my life on it, and it’s being treated like it’s no big deal.”

Happy had gone pale as a sheet, before whispering “I knew something had happened in Berlin, but…” 

“Berlin?” Pepper interrupted. “What happened in Berlin?” She asked.

Happy shook his head. “Mysterio happened, and he used the full extent of the BARF tech to torture Peter, try and get him out of the way, so he couldn’t stop the attack in London. It ended with Peter passing out on a train that takes him all the way to the Netherlands. He was injured badly, but he woke up in a detainment cell, and called me on the verge of a breakdown. Now I guess we know what injured him.”

“I think I should talk to him.” Sam said, standing up. Bucky held his hand up.

“Wait. You said that Mysterio used the drones to torture Peter, mentally?” The former assassin asked. Happy nodded in response.

“Well, I happen to know a thing or two about mental torture. Let me talk to the kid.”

Everyone looked to Strange, who had the final say. “Fine, you can talk to him. Find out what happened in Berlin, or Europe, or whatever. But be careful, alright. The boy’s been through enough, I don’t want a suicidal superhero on our hands.”

Bucky nodded, and followed Strange out of the room. Approaching the box that was Peter’s room, Strange slipped a phone out of his pocket. “Peter’s suit AI kept a record of everything that was on his phone, in case it got stolen or destroyed. His last phone was irradiated so badly being near it is risky, so here’s the replacement. Everything is already on there. He can talk to his friends, but he can’t tell them where he is because he doesn’t know. I suggest you remind him not to find out.”

Handing Bucky the phone, Strange reached for the controls, allowing the glass panels to slide down so the other man could enter the room.

Peter looked up from trying to trace an invisible map of Middle Earth on his bedsheets, only to see Sargent Barnes walk in.

“Hello Mr. Barnes sir.” Peter straightened, not sure how to address the man.

“Bucky is fine, kid. Here.” Bucky handed the phone to the teenager. “Your AI backed up your phone and we were able to recover and replace it. Your last one is currently glowing green in a lead-lined room right now, so, here.”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief, and turned the phone on. “Thank you, Mr. Barnes.”

“Kid, I told you. Call me Bucky.” 

“Right.” Peter looked down, before looking up again, a guilty look on his face.

“I’m sorry about your friend, Captain Rodgers. I didn’t know him that well, but I was sorry to hear that he had died.”

Bucky was surprised at the boy’s empathy. “Thanks. I appreciate that, especially considering the first time you met, he punched you in the face.”

Peter sniggered. “True, but I’ve been punched before, and I still talk to some of those guys, so he’s no different really.”

The statement reminded Bucky why he was here, and he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Hey, so, Doctor Strange has told us about some of your injuries, and he’s a little concerned about something.”

“Oh.” Peter tried to feign surprise, but the look Bucky gave him was the visual interpretation of ‘Cut the bs Parker.’

“You said you got hit by a train. Wanna tell me about that?” 

Peter flinched. “Not really.” The boy mumbled weakly.

“Y’know, I’m over a hundred years old kid? In that time, I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff, done a lot too. I was ordered to kill people, and I did it without question. Those include Howard and Maria Stark, by the way.”

Peter looked up in shock. “Oh yeah. And there was video footage of it. Hydra had it. And after the Civil War, Siberia? Tony saw it. He saw the video of me, killing his parents. He lashed out, he was angry, but honestly, the damage he did was nothing compared to the damage that video did to him. Happy said that Mysterio used the drones to show you stuff, stuff that wasn’t real, and it ended with you being hit by a train. So, what did he show you?”

“He showed me a lot of stuff. Nick Fury, him, usually beating me. Blaming me for what was about to happen. Said I didn’t deserve to be Spider-Man, have any power, stuff like that. Saw Tony…”

“Tony?” Bucky asked, and Peter nodded.

“Yeah. He was climbing out of his grave, in the Iron Man suit. Black Widow spiders were crawling all over him. Mysterio said it was my fault he was dead, and…” Peter couldn’t finish the sentence. He hadn’t told anyone what he had seen in Berlin before today, and now it seemed like if he didn’t tell someone, he couldn’t stop. But another word wouldn’t come out. His throat was tight, like it was in a vice. Breaking down, Peter just started sobbing.

“Peter, look at me.” Bucky’s voice was controlled, like he was angry, and Peter flinched. “Look at me.”

The boy looked up, and Bucky’s face seemed to be at war with itself. Pure rage, and sympathy seemed to be expressed at the same time. “Tony’s death was not your fault. Natasha’s either. You want someone to blame, blame Thanos.”

“But…”

“No buts. We all tried to stop him. We all failed. But Tony, he saved the world, and that’s not on you. Got it?”

Peter nodded, but Bucky knew that message would take a while to sink in. The urge to drag the boy into a hug was almost overpowering, and Bucky was struck at how much Peter reminded him of Steve before the war.

“And one more thing. Mysterio, he’s a liar Peter. None of what he said is true. You are one of the greatest superheroes on the team, and you deserve to have your place in the Avengers. You’re the best of us Peter.”

Bucky patted the kid on the shoulder, and the boy looked up at the man tearfully. “Yo…you mean that-t-t?”   
  
Bucky smiled at him. “Yeah, I do. I mean, think about it? Sam, what can he do? He can fly, that’s it. Rhodes usually has a stick up his butt, but he’s a solid guy…who can also only fly. Me? I can shoot guns and hit really hard. So can a lot of other people. Strange, he can do magic, but he only does it to protect the universe. No party tricks. What’s the fun in magic if you can’t pull a rabbit out of your hat?”

Peter softly giggled. “Wanda was technically a Nazi, before joining the Avengers. Yeah, she’s powerful, but I don’t think we bring that up enough. And uh, she was technically in love with a robot, so…yeah. I think someone said on the internet that dating Vision was like dating a talking toaster or something like that. But you, you can swing around skyscrapers, saving civilians, stopping crime, while also managing school, dating, and general teenage stuff. You keep the human side Peter, and that’s something a lot of superheroes can’t do. That’s what makes you worthy.”

“Not worthy enough to lift Thor’s hammer though.”

Bucky shrugged. “Eh. I think you’ll get there eventually. Now, you should rest, but I have been asked to remind you. You can communicate to your friends. You can call your aunt. But this is technically a classified facility, so don’t google the address, okay?”

Peter nodded, and with that, Bucky left, the glass sliding up and down to let him out. With that, Peter took a breath, and dialed his aunt’s number.

“Hey Aunt May? Yeah, I’m okay. Yeah, I was on a mission, it was so cool…”

* * *

On the other side of the glass, Bucky met up with Sam. “If he wasn’t dead already, I’d kill Beck.” The former assassin muttered. Sam raised an eyebrow. “I take it Winter in there didn’t like what he heard.”

Bucky shook his head. “Beck told Peter it was his fault Tony was dead. And then ran him onto the train tracks to get hit by the train, on purpose.”

Sam clenched his jaw. “Jesus.” He swore, and glanced through the kid, who was running his mouth a mile a minute on the phone.

“We’re gonna watch out for him, right?” Sam asked, and Bucky nodded.

“We better. That kid’s our future, and if you ask me, one day, he’ll be leading the Avengers.” Bucky said, and with that, the two men walked down the hall, side by side, leaving Peter in peace.


	9. Out of the Frying Pan...

It was precisely twelve hours into being under observation that Peter had had enough of being bored. The first two hours had been spent playing match-3 games on his new phone. The next hour would be emailing teachers to get homework. The fourth, fifth, and sixth hours were spent re-doing the homework he had spent time doing in the days before, and then doing the homework he had missed. By that point, Peter was crawling up the walls, literally. He sat crisscrossed upside-down on the glass ceiling of the containment center.

The next six hours passed so slowly that Peter was sure a full day had passed, if not for the time on the clock. Considering it was in the single digits time of the am, Peter knew neither Ned nor MJ would appreciate getting a text, so he couldn’t even reach out to his friends to pass the time. And then he decided he wanted to make a human-size Spider-web, before remembering that whoever had changed his clothes into a medical robe had taken his webshooters. That was a disappointing realization.

When Doctor Strange entered the room at 8 am the next morning, the teenager practically bounded up to him, ready to leave. 

“Can I go home now?” Peter begged, trying to alleviate the boredom.

Doctor Strange was taken aback slightly, but recovered, and said “No, you need to stay under observation.”

“Yeah, but I was thinking about that. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. I got superpowers. So, either I am now immune to radiation, or I have more superpowers. Either way, I’m bored and I want to leave. So, just let me out. Please?”

The teenager then did his best impression of puppy dog eyes, and goddamit, it almost broke Steven’s resolve. But no, he couldn’t. “I…I’ll make a deal with you. You stay in here, for another twelve hours, and if you are showing no signs or symptoms, I can have Happy take you home. Does that sound like an acceptable compromise to you?”

Peter thought about it, and then looked back at Doctor Strange’s face, trying to determine if he could negotiate twelve hours down to four, but the other man held firm, like a rock. Eventually, Peter nodded in agreement, and then climbed up to sit upside-down on the ceiling again.

“Oh, how are the other agents, are they okay?” Peter said suddenly, his head moving rapidly in alert.

“Agent Johnson and May are displaying minor symptoms of radiation poisoning. They’re being treated now. Agents Coulson, Mackenzie, and Simmons are all fine so far, having woken up.” 

There was someone missing. “What about Agent Fitz?” Peter asked. 

Strange sighed. “Agent Fitz was injured badly when he was hit by the explosion’s shockwave. By the time we got there, he had already lost a substantial amount of blood, and it appears his head came into contact with something, as he had a fairly traumatic concussion as well. But we are confident that he will wake up soon, and then we can determine his exposure.”

Peter thought silently for a moment, before tapping away on his phone some more. Not knowing what else to say to the boy, Doctor Strange asked “So, how is school going?”

“Good.” Peter responded carelessly. “I had just finished my paper on how I would have written the Sokovia Accords before the mission came up. Starting to wish I’d taken a picture of it before I left, so I didn’t have to rewrite it last night.”

Freezing in place, Strange looked up at the teenager sitting on the ceiling. “You…re-wrote an entire paper last night?” 

Peter chuckled. “No, Doctor Strange, I redid the homework due the day before yesterday, finished yesterday’s homework, the homework for today, and for tomorrow.”

Surprised at the teenager’s efficiency and resourcefulness, Steven asked Peter another question. “Did you do that all on your phone?” 

“Yeah, it wasn’t too difficult. I emailed my teachers, and they sent me all of the necessary materials after I told them I was in hospital again and didn’t have access to my textbooks. So they sent me the scans of the worksheets, the questions, and the textbook pdf pages so I could finish.”

“Did you sleep at all last night?”

“I don’t need to sleep as often as most people. The spider bite really affected my circadian rhythm, so on average, I usually need about four to six hours of sleep for every twenty-four hours. I was just asleep for two days you said, so…” Peter trailed off, expecting the doctor to finish the train of thought.

“I see. So, we shall need to find you something to do while you are here, then? Remaining under observation, while occupied. And preferably with someone that is also immune to radiation, just in case you happen to get sick.”

Peter frowned at the other man, confused as to who in mind the magician had.

* * *

“So, welcome to my lab!” The tall, green Bruce Banner gestured around the room, and Peter was able to spot several pieces of scientific equipment that he had only dreamed of using.

“Wow!” Peter whispered. The lab was pristine, silver and white with glass everywhere. “So, Strange tells me that your genetic mutation was caused by a spider bite. You wouldn’t happen to know what kind of spider it was?”

“Uh…yeah. It was a latrodectus, Black Widow spider.”

“And it was radioactive. Do you know how?”

“Well, I was bitten on a school field trip, we had gone to watch a demonstration of handling nuclear power plant waste materials. If the spider had lived at the plant, maybe it absorbed some of the radiation.”

“And it died after it bit you?” Bruce was taking notes.

“Yeah, but uh, I think it was dying anyway, not because it bit me. I think I was just the icing on the cake on how it wanted to go out.”

“Hmm. And the venom absorbed the radiation, which was then injected into your bloodstream. Where were you bitten?”

“On the neck, right around here.” Peter pointed to the area just next to the pulse point on the left side of his neck. 

“Hmm. That would’ve gone straight to the brain, and…”

Someone dashed into the room. The person bent over, trying to catch their breath, but finally they looked up. Peter vaguely recognized the man, but couldn’t remember his name. 

“Director Ross, how can we help you?” Bruce asked.

Ross. Secretary? No, Bruce said Director. Everett Ross. Yes, Director of the CIA. Peter straightened up a little bit.

“There’s a problem.” The man huffed out.

“Oh. Can you be more specific?” Bruce prompted.

Catching his breath, Ross stood to his full height. “There is a massive portal that has just opened up above the city, and it’s throwing off the magnetic fields…or something. I don’t know. Just come with me.”

Bruce pointed to Peter. “Him too.”

Ross nodded, and then dashed out the door, while saying “Yeah. Strange has your suit, we’re meeting in the car. Let’s go!”

* * *

You would think that I could catch a break, Peter thought to himself as the director of the CIA drove three superheroes through traffic to reach the portal. Dodging another panicked civilian, Peter glanced out the windows. But then something smacked into the window, and Peter flinched backwards. 

Watching the events from the car got infinitely more challenging as debris got swept up, and smacked into the car. Ross swore, and tried to keep the car on the road, huffing obscenities under his breath.

“Hey, don’t drive angry, don’t drive angry.” Peter pointed out, panicking a little bit. He didn’t recognize the city at all, but the portal swirled above the largest skyscraper, which was two thin, cone-shaped buildings connected by a bridge.

Strange stared at Peter for a moment, before literally jumping out of the car. Ross made an aborted “What the f…” Peter just recoiled in shock.

“Where’d he go?” Bruce asked.

“There. He’s standing in the middle of the god-dammed road.” Ross pointed. The three remaining people in the car exited the vehicle, and joined the wizard. 

“Where are we?” Peter asked, not recognizing the city at all. 

“Wakanda. The capitol city, Birnin Zorna.” Bruce answered. “Strange, what’s in that head of yours.”

“The portal appears to be getting larger.”

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock.” Ross muttered, checking his gun clip to see how many bullets he had. Twelve, a full clip.

“Did anyone ever tell you that on top of being a master of the mystic arts, you’re a master at making understatements?” Peter asked the caped magician, watching as the portal almost doubled in size, sucking debris into it.

“What do we do?” Bruce asked. 

“I wonder if this will work.” Strange said, before performing a simple gesture. A large golden portal appeared underneath the one in the sky, and the two of them seemed to crash into each other. The ground started to shake, and then the sky exploded. The clouds pixeled, and then the whole sky blinked, before large trees seemed to appear out of nowhere along the borders of the city. 

“Well, shit.” Ross stated. “The exterior field is down. Where’s Okoye?” The man ran off in the direction of the skyscrapers, Bruce following him.

Peter turned to the wizard. “Whatever that was, you broke it.” Then he too dashed off, following the CIA director, and the Hulk. 

Strange rolled his eyes, and followed his companions.

* * *

Class was a little unusual, to say the leasr. Everyone seemed on edge since Peter had been absent, and both MJ and Ned were constantly checking their phones, hoping to hear from him. Even Flash was occasionally glancing at Peter’s empty seat, an absence never before so obvious in a classroom.

The silence was so deafening that when emergency alerts blared from the cell phones in the room that multiple people jumped or flinched. Before the teachers could even stop people from checking their phones, students were reading the alerts out loud.

“A mysterious city has appeared out of nowhere as a large portal opens above the small African nation of Wakanda.” MJ announced, reading the headline that almost everyone in class was following along with.”

“The Avengers are still waiting on a complete go-ahead from the Accords Council, but reports are saying that there are already people ready to engage should there be any reason to.” Ned read aloud, people nodding in agreement.

Another student shot out of their seat, and said “Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Hulk have been spotted on the ground by local intelligence, and have begun evacuating a majority of the city that has appeared.”

People gathered around the student, all looking at their phone screen to confirm with their own eyes at that statement.

“Everyone sit DOWN!” Mr. Dell yelled, hoping to regain control of this classroom. Reluctantly, students moved back to their desks, and the man sighed. “I can tell all of you are worried about Peter, but we have to trust the Avengers to do their job. In the meantime, I need everyone to finish their assignment, and then for the last half hour of class, I’ll try and find a news feed that can show us what’s going on. Deal?” 

Students murmured their assent, and grudgingly continued their work, but MJ and Ned exchanged worried glances as if to say to each other “Can the Avengers keep Peter safe?”

* * *

Safe was the furthest thing from what Peter was, but he wasn’t necessarily focused on that. Running through Birnin Zorna was an incredible experience, and if it hadn’t been for the life-threatening event that was occurring, he would’ve been stopping every three minutes to marvel at something.

Finally, Ross slowed down upon approaching a woman in red and silver armor. “Ayo, can you tell me where Okoye is?”

The woman nodded, and said “The General is with the King and the Council at the Wakandan Technology Institute, away from the major city. I can connect you to them, but we may not get a signal due to the interference of the portal.”

“Right. Can you just let them know that we are here, and are willing to step in should things escalate. How’s the evacuation going?”

“The main city has been mostly evacuated to the border lands, but we still are trying to move civilians out of the underground system in case of collapses. I’m sorry, I cannot stay. I need to continue a patrol of the area to make sure there are no others nearby.” With that, she bashed her spear against the ground and ran off.

Peter watched her go, and then turned to Bruce as if to say “What is happening?” But before anyone could say anything, their comms sparked to life. 

“Does anyone copy? This is Sam Wilson, trying to reach anyone on the ground in Wakanda, do you copy?”

Both Strange and Bruce perked up upon hearing Sam, but Peter responded first. “Captain, this is Spider-Man! I am on the ground in Wakanda, I copy.”

“Kid? You are supposed to be in hospital right now! Wh…”

“I got bored and staged a breakout. Doesn’t matter, what is this thing?” Peter cut the other man off before he could continue asking Peter questions.

“Sam, this is Bruce. Strange and I are on the ground with Parker as well. What is going on, have we identified this thing yet?” 

“No. We’re still working on that.” A new voice aired over the comms. “It’s magnetic pull is disabling a lot of the defenses because of their vibranium components, but Strange has appeared to counteract it temporarily by having it feed back on itself. However, whatever it is, it is getting larger and stronger. We need to figure out how to shut it down, now.” 

“Well, the Accords council have allowed us to engage Princess, so Strange, can you get close to that thing and check it out?” Sam asked, following on from whoever had addressed the situation.

The comms fell silent, and Bruce surveyed the group. “Strange, you can portal up there and fly, but we can probably aid in some analysis visually that you might not have expertise on…” 

“I can go up there with him. I can’t imagine that cape supporting all three of us.” Peter suggested. Bruce looked like he was about to protest, but Strange stopped him.

“The boy is right. The Cape of Levitation might be able to support myself and Parker, but I too doubt it will take your weight as well Doctor Banner. However, Parker’s mask lenses have built-in cameras,” Strange looked at Peter to confirm, and he nodded. “And you should be able to watch from the Wakandan Technology Institute, and provide information in tandem with Princess Shuri.”

Bruce’s look shifted from protest to resignation, and then took a long look at Peter before nodding at Strange and bounding off towards what Peter assumed would be the Technology Institute. Pulling up his mask HUD, Peter directed Karen to perform some analysis on the wormhole. The information she fed back was informative, but not extremely helpful, until Peter noticed the time.

“Uh, Doctor Strange?” Peter ventured. The sorcerer was entranced by the wormhole, but acknowledged Peter. “Yes?”

“Um, did you know it was 8:26 pm local time?”

“So?” Strange frowned.

“Well, sir, we are in the middle of summer. The average time of sunset in the southern hemisphere around this time is 6 pm.”

“Your point?”

“Well, it’s about two and a half hours after sunset. So, why isn’t it dark outside?” Finally, the point of Peter’s question landed, and immediately, voices started sounding in Peter’s comm, not that he could really acknowledge them, because in that moment, the wormhole exploded.

* * *

“…It is unclear how many casualties have occurred because of the wormhole that has appeared over the continent of Africa but…hold on. We’re getting breaking news…the wormhole that appeared over the isolationist nation of Wakanda has exploded, sending tons of debris into the ground, and into the atmosphere. The resulting shockwave of the explosion has triggered an earthquake along the entire border of the African tectonic plate. Tsunamis are expected to make landfall in India, Australia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina in a matter of hours. The response team identified as the Avengers has been disabled, and we have lost all contact with local informants on the continent. The United Nations has called an emergency session, and people are being advised to evacuate from the East Coast. In other news, strange reports of the sun not setting have risen across the globe. We’ll have more for you in ten.”

The news reporter nodded, and the stream broke for an ad break, leaving the students of Midtown in a suspended state of shock and horror. But before anyone could move, an alarm sounded, and the Principle’s voice sounded over the speaker system.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please. Due to an emergency alert, we have been instructed to evacuate the area, and move as many people as possible away from nearby bodies of water. Students, please calmly collect your belongings from your classrooms, do not go to your lockers, and follow your teachers to the bus parking outside. This is not a drill. Also, please refrain from communication with family and friends until you are safely on a vehicle, to prevent slowing down the evacuation process. I repeat…”

Immediately, students sprang into action. Bags were packed, chairs were vacated, and students rose, a panicked whisper rising amongst the students. MJ, Betty, Flash and Ned banded together almost immediately, and Mr. Dell grabbed his attendance roster and emergency kit, before ordering everyone to follow him.

* * *

“Well, that couldn’t have gone any worse, could it have?”

“No, not really. At least they’re alive, for now.”

“Let’s hope they stay that way, do what we couldn’t.”

“Thanks for reminding us of that, really appreciate it.”

“Can you two shut up?”

“Don’t worry Stark, they’ll be fine.”

“That is not assuring Romanoff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe how far this story has come! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and it is my sad duty to report that there will only be a maximum of three more chapters after this. We still have the court case and the adventures of Pete and Flash left and...oh, the last few lines of the chapter? Yeah, I suppose that might be important. Important enough to merit a sequel? Let me know if y'all want this to continue in the comments!
> 
> Alright, y'all, thanks a ton for the comments and the kudos, they mean so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you when the next one is done! Bye!


	10. And Now This...

Having lived through two explosions in the last week, Peter obviously felt like crap. Although, that might’ve also been because of the ton of concrete burying him alive. His mask was still intact, and was able to plot out the relevant information regarding his position, but did nothing to assure him that he was going to get out of this.

He also could not breath, and that was by far the biggest problem. A large chunk of rock was pinning Peter to the ground below him, and it was crushing him at the same time. Pushing slightly against the rock, Peter was able to move it fractionally, but the shift in pressure caused pain to flare up, almost causing him to pass out again.

“…ing Christ! Strange! Parker! Can either of you hear me?” There was a voice passing overhead. Trying to call out, Peter tried to make a noise, but his voice cracked. “He-lp. Hey.” It was too quiet. That’s when a figure came into view. A man in a black suit…the Black Panther. It was in that moment that Peter did in fact pass out once more.

* * *

King T’Challa was able to locate Strange with ease. The man had conjured shields, and thus all the rocks and debris lay scattered in a near-perfect circle around him. But frantically, he was lifting rocks with magic and organizing them into piles, and so, that was slightly unusual. 

“Doctor Strange? Are you alright?” Before the man could answer, Sam Wilson dropped out of the sky, along with Bucky Barnes.

“Strange. You good?”

The doctor refused to make eye contact. “I couldn’t shield Parker. He’s under all this rock. I can’t see him!”

Immediately Sam took off, trying to get a good view from overhead, and King T’Challa took to searching over the rocks by foot. Barnes immediately started lifting some of the debris with his arm, but moments later, T’Challa spied the boy under one of the largest pieces of concrete. 

“He’s over here!” The king called out, and the other superheroes scrambled to meet him. Seeing the rock, Strange’s breath hitched, and he conjured a spell lifting the boulder off of Peter. The boy was unconscious but breathing, allowing a breath of relief to pass over the superheroes.

“We need to get him to medical, make sure there’s no internal bleeding.” Strange murmured, unable to take his eyes off of the Spider-Man. T’Challa nodded, and said “Can you portal him to my sister, she will take care of him.”

Strange nodded, and conjured a portal, and Peter’s prone form disappeared. The Avengers then turned their attention back towards the sky, where they faced an entirely new challenge. A large celestial object floated in the atmosphere, previously hidden by the portal, and it was emitting enough light to mimic the sun.

* * *

MJ and Ned physically gripped each others hands as they watched a league of buses cart people out of the city. It was like a disaster zone. The kids were silent, save for the whispers of those on the phone with family members, and the muted tones of music emitting from headphones. Even Flash was quiet, a feat almost unachievable by any means.

It was in that moment that Ned’s phone rang, and the noise was so sudden that it made the people around him jump. Listing as an unknown number, Ned ignored the call, thinking that it was a telemarketer. Now was hardly the time to deal…the phone rang again.

People shot annoyed glances at Ned, but didn’t say anything. Ned rejected the call. Next came a text message. Ned read it, and frowned in disbelief.

“What?” MJ asked. 

“It says, ignore my call again, and I’ll put another dart in your neck.”

“What does that mean?” MJ asked, but the phone rang a third time before Ned could answer her.

“Hello?”

“Nathaniel Leeds, student at Midtown High, my name is Nick Fury…” 

“Yeah, I know who you are. Peter’s told me about you. And no, he isn’t here. He’s not ignoring you, he’s in Africa.”

“I know that mot…I know where Parker is. I’m calling you because I need to talk to you.”

“Me?” Ned’s heart was racing. 

“Yes you! You were on that school trip with Parker, I need you to tell me something.”

“Yes, yes sir. Anything. What do you need to know?”

“Can you think of anything that might help us identify more of Mysterio’s accomplices? We’ve got some leads, but they’re not all panning out.”

“Well, Peter told me that he thinks they’re all former Stark Industries employees, or people who have serious issues with Tony Stark. Someone had to be operating the drones, someone watching to make sure the technical execution was going well. Beck was on the bridge, but he was also not in costume. Someone else had to have been with that, so that his true identity wasn’t discovered, and there had to be the bus driver. Peter thinks they were all in Prague at one point, after fighting the fire monster. In the bar when Peter gave him EDITH.”

“The bar? What bar?” Fury demanded, signaling Hill to check the surrounding area for CCTV footage in the city and find the bar that Ned was talking about. 

“It was close to the main square, where the Ferris wheel had been. Mysterio invited Peter to hang out after the battle, and they walked to the bar.”

“Got it.” Hill called out, pulling up a security camera record from a pharmacy across the street. Mysterio was visible in the window, standing on the bar. Other individuals had their backs turned, but scrolling through the frames, she was able to get clear images of over twelve faces, including cross-matching three faces of people that they had already caught.

Fury nodded at her, and said “Thanks for the tip.” He hung up the phone, and went back to work.

Ned pulled the phone away from his ear, and stared at it in wonder. “I just helped catch international criminals. Oh this is the best day ever.”

MJ rolled her eyes, and said “Can you wait to say that until after we’re not under threat by a massive tsunami?”

“Oh, right, yeah, my bad.”

* * *

Shuri physically hissed like a cat upon being startled by the appearance of a body in her lab, but when Banner identified the person as Spider-Man, and that he was in fact alive, she immediately got to work.

Scanning him for injuries Shuri winced upon finding several broken bones and internal bleeding. Bruce swore, a surprise to many of the people in the room.

“Doctor Banner, surely I do not need to remind you that there are children present.” Queen Mother Ramonda lectured the Hulk, who at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed. 

“My apologies, uh, your Highness. I…it’s just that we pulled Peter out of hospital after he barely recovered from being almost blown up by a bomb. Seeing him like this, with this many injuries…I just realized how many times this kid has gotten hurt on Avengers missions.”

“Kid? How old is he?” A motherly look immediately dawned on Ramonda’s face. 

“Peter Benjamin Parker, age 17.” Shuri answered her mother. “He’s a few months younger than I am.”

“I see.” Ramonda frowned. She paused for a moment, and then asked “Wasn’t he present during the fight in Berlin?”

“I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t th-there.” Bruce stuttered out, a depressing feeling clouding his head. Berlin was during the Civil War…which would’ve made Peter…about fourteen. Not for the first time, he regretted not being involved in that whole mess.

Before the conversation could continue any further, Peter groaned in pain as he swam back into consciousness. Shuri frowned, checking her chart to confirm…no, he should still be unconscious. But he was awake.”

“Wh-where am…where am I?” Peter forced out, blearily trying to make out his surroundings. He really needed to stop getting hit in the head. 

“Wakanda. The Science Institute. Or more specifically, my lab.” Shuri answered him, circling the boy with a more advanced scanner, trying to get more accurate readings off of him. She’d never before seen ribs physically repair themselves so quickly, and it took every ounce of her willpower to not verbally assault her patient with questions.

“Oh. And, uh, you are?” Peter asked, trying to get a clue from Banner as to who this girl was. Shuri paused, and placed the scanner and tablet back on a surface. She then held out her hand, and began to introduce herself.

“Princess Shuri of Wakanda, sister of T’Challa, daughter of T’Chaka. And as of this moment, your doctor.” 

Peter gaped at her, a bit like a koi fish. He was standing face to face with royalty. He’d fought next to royalty, of course, during the battles over the years, but he’d never really interacted with either Shuri or T’Challa. Slowly, he realized that he recognized her slightly from the funeral, and all of a sudden Peter felt slightly embarrassed.

“Oh, it’s…nice to meet you. Uh, properly that is.” Peter shook her hands. “My girlfriend is a fan of yours. She wants to work at the Wakandan outreach center in New York.” 

“Really?” Shuri asked. She didn’t exactly picture Peter having a girlfriend, what with being a superhero, but she was pleasantly surprised.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt this nice moment, but there is still a massive object floating in space that we need to deal with?” Bruce cut into the conversation. 

“Right.” Shuri immediately switched tracks, and pulled up the cam footage from T’Challa’s helmet. “Brother, can you hear me?” She patched the comms conversation through the speakers in the lab for the benefit of the others.

“Yes, we can all hear you Shuri. How is Peter doing?” 

“Oh, I’m all good, uh…Mr. Black Panther sir…highness…uh…” Peter floundered a bit, but T’Challa was relieved to hear his voice enough to let out an amused laugh.

“Black Panther is fine for the purposes of the mission.”

“Jesus, Parker, you gave us a freakin heart attack.” Sam sniped over the comms.

“Sorry about that Captain. Won’t happen again.” Peter responded. 

“Bullshit.” Bucky chimed in. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep kid. But do us a favor, next time, stand closer to Strange.” 

“Got it.” Peter affirmed. “So, do we know what the big glowing thing is, and did it cause the wormhole?”

“Of course it caused the wormhole. What else could do that?” Bruce frowned at Peter.

“I dunno. Just doesn’t make sense. Why the glowing thing and the wormhole? Were they trying to destroy the city, and when that didn’t work are they trying to lay siege to it with sunlight? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Kid’s got a point.” A new voice aired over the comms channel. “The wormhole caused a bit of damage, and then Strange blew it up by overwhelming it. The orb…it doesn’t seem to be connected, and how come no one noticed it. The wormhole’s only been here for forty minutes max. Sun was supposed to set hours ago.”

“So what are you thinking then, Captain Danvers.” Rhodes’ voice aired over the comms.

“I don’t know. I’ve not seen anything like this before. I’m trying to get close for a better look, but the orb is resisting my access.”

“Would a space vessel, with better shielding be able to get closer?” Shuri asked.

“Maybe. But this might not be the biggest problem to deal with at the moment. Tsunamis have already hit South Asia, and South America’s got it coming soon as well.”

“Tsunamis?” Peter asked. 

“The explosion in the sky triggered a massive earthquake under the African plate, large enough to send a ring of tsunamis towards every continent in contact with the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Wanda’s helping evacuate as many people as possible from Brazil, and other countries on the east coast of South America, and we’ve issued emergency warnings along the east coast of the North American continent and islands. Clint is helping with the evacuation of Australia’s coastline, and New Asgard is taking Europe.”

Hearing the status report, Peter paled. They were evacuating coastal cities on every single continent with the exception of the ice caps. That indicated…global natural distasters. “Strange, can you get me back to New York?”

“What?” Several voices called out, and Shuri looked at Peter in surprise.

“So far, I haven’t heard anyone tell me that there are people in New York, or America at all for that matter, unless someone called Ant-Man and the Wasp. But I clearly can’t help in space, but I can help with evacuation processes, I’m good at that. So, get me back to New York.”

It was Everett Ross’s turn to speak now. “I agree. I’m not much use here either, and neither is Banner. This thing isn’t radioactive, and we can’t yell at it or science it out of existence.”

Bruce frowned, but acquiesced. Ross continued. “But Strange is a little preoccupied at the moment, so Princess Shuri, with your permission, can we take one of your jets, and fly to New York?”

“Of course.” Shuri agreed immediately. They needed Strange focused on the orb, and the Wakandan jet would be the next fastest thing.

“I’ll come as well.” Bucky supplied. “I don’t really have a lot to offer here, and I’m not a fan of space, so I’ll help. Plus, we have a lot of cities to cover. From Florida to Maine, that’s going to take time. Not to mention Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the rest of the Caribbean.” 

“Jesus, that’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“Okay, I have held my tongue long enough. I understand the severity of the situation, but I must ask a question.” Queen Ramonda stepped in. “Who is this Jesus person so many of you have mentioned?”

Blinking in surprise, Peter snapped his head to look at the woman, who appeared to be frustrated at being un-informed. He wasn’t the only one unsure on how to answer that question apparently. Bruce was also silent, and no one on the comms appeared to want to answer her. Until…

Peter answered her, not wanting to be rude. “He’s a religious figure in a few monotheistic religions, and the use of his name has been adopted as a relatively PG swear.”

Ramonda nodded in appreciation at him, but others sighed in impatience.

“Is this really important right now?” Bruce asked with a resigned tone. 

“No, but I appreciate someone answering me." The sharp tone in Queen Mother Ramonda's voice made the green scientist straighten, and he sent her an apologetic look. 

“Right then, Barnes, you and Ross get to Parker and Banner’s location.” Carol ordered. 

“No need.” Strange was fed up with the chatter, and all of a sudden Bucky and Everett Ross tumbled through holes in the ceiling. “Just go already.”

Ross landed on his feet, but was clearly ruffled at being taken surprise by the wizard, but Barnes landed flat on his ass. Peter couldn’t help it, he laughed at the Winter Soldier.

Barnes was slightly embarrassed, but upon hearing Peter laugh, his mood lightened. The kid had that effect. Climbing to his feet, Ross nodded in respect to Queen Mother Ramonda and Princess Shuri, before beckoning for Bruce and Peter to follow him.

“Sorry about Strange, the man is not known for his social skills.” Ross apologized.

“They’re reasonable enough.” Strange retorted, clearly offended by the apology on his behalf. 

“If they were, wouldn’t have had a mini-heart attack upon falling through the ground and out of a ceiling.” Ross spit out, and Peter flinched. The CIA director had a point.

There was silence for a moment, and then Strange said “Apologies Agent Ross.”

The clear demotion in rank was audible enough, and Ross smiled. “Well, if you apolozied, I appreciate that MR Strange.”

“Doctor.” Strange snapped. “It’s Doctor Strange.” 

“Don’t care. Do your job, let us do ours.”

Before Strange could reply, the group reached an aircraft hangar, where an unusual aircraft was waiting, it’s bay doors already open.

Peter froze, marveling the vehicle before him. “Wow. This looks like something out of Star Wars!” He exclaimed. 

“Do you like it?” Shuri asked. “I built it myself.”

Peter brushed the exterior of the jet lightly with his fingers. “It’s amazing.”

“We can fawn over the plane later, let’s go.” Ross ushered Peter inside, and then sat in the pilot’s chair. The controls were very unusual from what Peter could see, but Ross was able to operate the ship with efficient competency. Taking off, Ross eased the jet out of the hangar, and then gunned it, rapidly increasing the speed at which they were traveling.

If the outside was impressive, the inside even more so. A table covered in a sand-like substance was placed in the middle of the main passenger area, with holographic displays hovering in the air around it. Screens on the walls were blank, but Peter was sure that they were capable of displaying important information.

“Parker, Banner, Barnes, can you still hear me?” Shuri called out.

“Yes, we can still hear you.” Bruce responded first.

“You’re about an hour and a half out from Cuba, but Mexico paramilitary operatives are already evacuating, and SHIELD is as well. We’re sending you straight to New York. The government’s got most of the coastal cities, but New York is too heavily populated and we can’t airlift people out. Your job is going to be getting people directly off the streets to the above hele-carriers. Life raft quinjets will be in major civilian areas, like Central Park and Times Square, but we need to make sure things move efficiently and calmly. Stop people from prioritizing their safety above others through violent means, and sweep for people who can’t get to the rafts or refuse to. New York might not recover from this, make sure you save as many as possible.”

“Copy that.” Barnes shot Shuri a brief affirmative to acknowledge her mission brief, and then checked his body armor and weaponry, getting the feeling that the next few hours were going to be chaotic.

Peter prayed he was wrong.


End file.
